


Two Sides To Every Story

by Sazula



Series: Mrs Hastings [3]
Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, F/M, Humor, Love/Hate, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader-Insert, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Build, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:55:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5096480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sazula/pseuds/Sazula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“There's always two sides to every story. For one as excellent as this, it's only fair you should hear them both.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is just setting it up, which is why it's so short!

“So, how did you two meet?”

It was a question you and Shaun had been often asked. It had confused you at first, the fact that people had seemed so interested in your relationship. Assassin's got together all the time, why was your relationship any different to all of the others?

“It's because of  _who_ you both are that has everyone wanting to know the story,” Rebecca had told you when you'd mentioned it to her. “He's the arrogant, smartass historian and you're the Assassin who is well known for killing high-ranking Templars without flinching. You're an unlikely couple, you have to admit that.”

She had a point.

Whenever you and Shaun were asked how you met, he would usually respond with some smart comment that would have you hiding your laughter behind your hand. It would usually be something like 'we're in the same line of work', or 'we belong to the same book club'.

“Shaun, they mean how did we become a couple,” you'd say in response to whatever comment he'd made, shaking your head and smiling.

“Well, they should just say that then, shouldn't they?” he'd sigh, and you'd roll your eyes at him or nudge him playfully with your shoulder, saying something about how he knew full well what they meant and how he should play nice.

The inquisitive individual would then usually mumble something unrelated to change the topic before walking away, clearly embarrassed at Shaun's comments.

The question would always get you reminiscing, though, and you'd find yourself thinking back to how you and Shaun  _did_ meet, thinking about the events that had followed and that had brought you to where you were now. So you'd seek out whomever it was who had asked how you'd both met, and you'd tell them the story, fondly remembering as you did.

What you never found out was that, once you had finished and had walked away, Shaun would appear and proceed to tell them his version.

“ _There's always two sides to every story. For one as excellent as this, it's only fair you should hear them both.”_

 


	2. Relocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your first encounter with Shaun doesn't go well at all.

**26 th December 2012**

Your legs were burning with exhaustion as you ran but you didn't dare slow down. You were grateful there wasn't many people out and about, it still being early and raining heavily. Still, this was New York, the city that never slept and you were finding you still had to to weave your way around those who were braving the early morning downpour.

You could feel your eye swelling, a purple bruise no doubt forming. Your split lip was still bleeding, the wound stinging as the rain touched it. _This was supposed to be an easy job_ , you thought as you continued to run from the Abstergo agents. _Get_ _in, assassinate the target, get out._ Your information had suggested that the building would be practically empty today but, obviously, it had been wrong. Very wrong. You'd been ambushed as soon as you'd set foot into the target's office, an agent striking you hard in the face with their baton. You cursed yourself for not being more vigilant, for being too relaxed and not properly scouting the building with your Eagle Vision.

You were so busy berating yourself as you ran that you weren't paying attention as you sped around a corner. You crashed into someone, almost falling to the ground and the drinks they had been carrying were now covering your jacket and his sweater.

“What the bloody hell, you fucking twat!” he cried out as you staggered away.

“Shit! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!” you gasped, holding your arms out in front of you to steady yourself as you span around to face him.

“What the fuck, what kind of _moron_ goes running around in New York?” He turned his angry expression towards you. “Can't you at least look where you're going?”

“Look, I said I was sorry. It was clearly an accident, there's no need to continue with the name calling,” you retorted.

“No, I think there is a need. Only a special kind of idiotic moron goes running around on the sidewalk in a city a busy as New York! What's the matter with you, were you dropped on your head as a child?” he sneered.

“Oh, you sanctimonious son of a-” Before you could finish, you heard the shouts of the agents chasing you. “The Assassin went this way!” one yelled. Your eyes widened in panic as you looked around. You'd wasted time by stopping and arguing.

“Oh, bollocks!” you snarled, angry at yourself for getting distracted.

“Did they just say 'Assassin'?” His voice made you look back at him, his eyes wide as he stared at you.

You turned on your heel and fled without responding, leaving him behind. You continued running straight ahead until you found an alleyway you could duck into, planning to make your way to the rooftops. Your whole body ached and your lungs burned with each breath you took but you knew you had to continue. You jumped on a nearby dumpster, using it as leverage as you made your way up towards the top of the building. As soon as you reached the top you stopped, out of necessity rather than because you wanted to. You needed to rest for a moment before you passed out. You pressed your hands into your bent knees as you took in a few deep breaths. You scanned the area with Eagle Vision, checking for your pursuers. You saw them running past the building you were standing on in a blur of red, clearly unaware of your location. Your body sagged in relief as you watched their retreating figures and you jumped across the rooftops in the opposite direction, back the way you had originally came, still cautiously scanning the area when you could. Once you were certain you were safe, you returned back to the ground and made your way as fast as you could back to your safe house where the rest of your team was waiting for you.

*~*~*

“What happened?!” Alex jumped up from his chair as soon as you walked into the safe house, having caught sight of your injured face.

“I was ambushed. The info was all wrong, that building was swarming with agents,” you griped, pulling your stained, rain-soaked jacket off and throwing it in the direction of the utility room. You'd get it washed later.

Alex hovered by you, concern etched into his features. He was your closest friend, the first person you'd met when you'd come to New York from England to join his team two years ago. You'd both been born into the Brotherhood, both trained to become Assassin's as soon as you could walk and you'd bonded over your similar childhoods. The other three members of your team, Ilana, Jack and Luis, had all been recruited at various points in their lives, each possessing a set of skills that had caught the attentions of the Council.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Alex asked as he went and grabbed the medical kit.

“I think I've bruised the bones in my wrist,” you mumbled as you carefully removed the bracer containing your hidden blade, wincing as you did so. “Hopefully it's just a sprain. That'll heal quicker.”

“Wow, you look like shit,” Ilana announced as she walked in from the kitchen.

“Nice to see you too,” you responded, chuckling slightly as you dropped yourself into a chair.

Ilana flashed you a smile before heading over to her laptop. “So the building wasn't as empty as we'd thought, huh?” Ilana was from Tel Aviv in Israel and was the resident tech guru, gathering information and keeping in contact with the other Assassin teams around the world.

“Obviously not,” you muttered as Alex tended to your injured wrist. “Alex, I can do that myself.”

Alex ducked his head away. “I know you can. I just...” He cleared his throat but didn't finish what he was saying.

“What? What's going on?” you pressed. “You're hiding something from me.” Alex studiously avoided looking at you as he continued to wrap the bandage around your wrist. “ _Alex!_ ”

“Oh Alex, just tell her already,” Ilana sighed. “She's going to find out soon, anyway. It'll be better if it comes from you.”

You felt your stomach twist in worry as you looked back to Alex. He finished wrapping your wrist before he looked at you.

“The Council got in touch with me whilst you were out. You're being moved to another team,” he stated.

You stared at him, not entirely sure you'd heard correctly. “I'm being moved? Why?” Teams were rarely changed if it could be helped. If they were, it was usually because of conflict between team members or if another team needed a replacement after a death.

Alex sighed heavily. “I'm not too certain-”

“For God's sake, Alex,” Ilana cut in, walking over to you. “There's two reasons. One, the Council feels that our team doesn't need both you and Alex and, as Alex has been a part of this team for longer, he stays. Two, which is the bigger reason, you've been requested by a Mentor on said Council to become part of his team to replace a member who was killed a few months ago.”

“You've got quite the reputation,” Alex mumbled, smiling weakly.

You swallowed, mouth dry. You didn't want to move. You'd grown to care for this team, especially Alex. He was like an older brother to you. However, as much as you were loath to admit it, the reasons were valid. You and Alex were equal in rank and skill. Having both of you on one team was a waste and you'd secretly wondered when the Council would realise this.

“Do you know who I'm replacing?” you croaked as Ilana walked back over to her desk.

“Lucy Stillman,” Alex replied. “She was killed in Rome back in October.”

You'd heard of Lucy. She'd gone undercover at Abstergo and at some point had switched her allegiance to the Templars. Details of her death had never been officially released but the rumour was she'd been killed by another Assassin after her true loyalties were revealed.

“Which means that I was requested by William Miles. Great. Mr Happy himself,” you groaned. You'd met William a couple of times and he'd always been a miserable bastard.

“He might be in a better mood these days now he's reconciled with his son,” Alex chuckled weakly.

You snorted, a smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. “I still wouldn't bet on it.”

You sat there in silence for a moment as Alex tidied away the medical kit, staring at your hands.

“I suppose I should get packing then,” you finally said. “Do you have any idea where I'll be going?” You stood up, gently moving your wrist and noting the pain had lessened to a dull ache.

“They're in New York, too. They were actually at a Precursor site for a couple of weeks, trying to figure out how to save the world,” Ilana casually mentioned.

“You're kidding, right?” you asked, eyebrows raised.

“Nope. Remember that whole 'worldwide Aurora Borealis' event five days ago? That was them saving us all from a solar flare. It's a pretty cool story, actually. They'd thought that William's son, Desmond, would have to sacrifice himself or something but at the last minute they figured out another way,” she babbled excitedly. “I'm kind of jealous you get to go and find out all about it from them!”

“Sounds like science fiction to me,” you muttered. You began to walk to your room. “At least they're in New York.”

“Yep, so you won't have to move too far. They're probably not staying here much longer, though.” Ilana said, hunched over her laptop and staring intently at the screen.

“It never fails to amaze me just how much info you get from that thing,” you mused, gesturing at the laptop. “I'm going to miss that.”

“You flatter me, honey,” Ilana said, grinning. “Don't worry too much, though. Rebecca Crane is in your new team, creator of the Animus 2.0 and even more of a tech head than I am. She can be your new font of information.”

You hummed in acknowledgement before stepping into your bedroom, shutting the door behind you. You needed a rest before you started to pack. You pulled off your wet clothes, flopped down onto your bed and closed your eyes, but a thought made you open them and sit bolt upright. _They're in New York._ You thought back to the man you'd ran into barely an hour ago, remembering the look in his eyes at the word 'Assassin'. _Was that rude bastard one too, a member of my new team? If he is...no, he can't be. It's too much of a coincidence._ You lay back down, pushing the thoughts from your mind.

*~*~*

It was dark by the time you'd finished packing, thanks to your constant procrastination so you could stay where you were a little while longer (you'd claimed you were waiting for your freshly washed jacket to finish drying). You'd received your Official Relocation Order, as it was known, sometime before noon. It contained the names of who was in your new team and their location, along with some other important information. The names were all familiar, but the only face you could picture was that of William Miles. Photographs would have been helpful but the council had neglected to include any.

You walked to the address you had been given, listening to music to keep you entertained during the journey, your heavy bag slung over your shoulders. You soon found yourself back where you had been that morning and you thought about the man you had encountered earlier that day, recalling his English accent and snotty attitude.

 _I doubt he was an Assassin. He was more than likely just some random guy I happened to cover in fruit smoothie_ , you thought as you walked along. You mouthed along to the song playing in your ears as you wondered where your new team where going to be sent. Your order had said that you'd only be in New York until the New Year before moving on, but hadn't stated where you'd be going. You really hoped it would be somewhere warm, preferably with a beach.

You reached the safe house, an unassuming apartment building. You glanced at your cellphone, the order loaded up on screen, to check the apartment number you'd need to buzz. You pressed the buzzer and waited, pulling out your earbuds and switching off your music.

The speaker crackled. “Look up towards the camera on the right.”

You glanced up, seeing a small camera nestled in a corner, a small light on it flashing red. It beeped a couple of times and the light turned green.

“Alright, facial recognition confirmed! I'll buzz you in!” the voice bubbled excitedly. The door unlocked and you walked inside the building. You were relieved to see there was an elevator, your legs still achy from all the running you had done that morning. Stepping inside, you pressed the button for the top floor. You grimaced at your reflection in the elevator's mirror. Your eye was a swollen, a large purple and yellow bruise around it, but at least your lip didn't look too bad. Your wrist was feeling better, too, you having put ice it at some point in the afternoon before re-wrapping it. It still twinged whenever you went to extend your hidden blade, but it was bearable and you couldn't imagine needing to use it any time soon. The elevator stopped and you stepped out, walking over to the door of what was to be your home for the next week. You were about to knock when the door was flung open.

“Hey, I'm so glad you're here!” The woman standing on the other side beamed at you. “I'm Rebecca.”

You introduced yourself, smiling at her infectious enthusiasm. She took hold of your hand and gently tugged you into the hallway of the apartment.

“You look like you've been in the wars,” Rebecca commented, gesturing at your face and your bandaged wrist. “What happened? It looks fairly recent.”

“Yeah, something like that. I'll tell you about it later,” you said, pulling a face at the memory. You let Rebecca lead you into the living room. You saw William Miles sitting on the couch next to a man who was clearly his son, Desmond. A third man sat towards the back of the room, his back facing you as he typed something up on his laptop.

“Everyone, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our little collective,” she announced, before introducing you by your name. “OK so this is Desmond and his father William.” Rebecca pointed to the two men sitting in front of you. Desmond gave a small wave and William nodded his head at you. “And that's Shaun over there. He's sulking because someone ruined his favourite sweater this morning.”

“I am not _sulking_ , Rebecca. I'm in mourning,” Shaun said, not looking away from his computer screen. “That sweater was cashmere, it went with everything I own and I'll never find another one like it. All because some _inconsiderate prat_ was running around this morning.”

 _Wait...that voice._ You bit back a groan, thinking that this was the cherry on top of the bullshit sundae that had been your day.

“Stop being a pain in the ass, Shaun, and come and say hi!” Rebecca cajoled.

Shaun sighed and spun around in his chair to face you. His eyes were narrowed into a glare, which you returned. “We've already met.”

_Well isn't this just fucking brilliant?_

 

<><><>

**Shaun**

Shaun pulled a face as he stepped out of the apartment building, putting up his umbrella before walking out into the rain. He'd lost a bet between Rebecca and himself, so now he was the one who had to go and get everyone a smoothie.

“It's the middle of winter and they want bloody smoothies,” he grumbled under his breath. “Americans.”

He walked quickly, not wanting to be out in the rain any longer than he needed to be. The city was quieter than usual, people obviously choosing to stay in the warmth of their own homes rather than venture outside into the cold and wet. Shaun couldn't blame them, it's what he'd rather be doing right now. He supposed he should be grateful that he was even able to do something as simple as walk to the store in the rain. After all, it could have been very different...

There had been only minutes to spare and it wasn't looking good. Desmond was going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice as none of them could see any other option to prevent the destruction from the solar flare.

“Go! Now!” Desmond had cried, but nobody moved.

“We're not leaving!” Rebecca insisted. “We're staying with you, Des.”

“There's nothing you can do, just go!” Desmond's voice wavered a fraction, letting on just how frightened he really was.

“You're not doing this on your own, son!” William insisted. “I won't let you.”

“What are you going to do, Dad? Activate it with me?” Desmond asked, shaking his head. He moved his hand to place it onto the Eye.

“That's exactly what I'm going to do.” William's voice was quiet but firm. Before anyone could stop him, he marched over to where Desmond was standing and placed his hand on the Eye at the same time as his son.

A blinding light shot outwards from the device. Shaun and Rebecca shielded their eyes from it, trying in vain to make out what was happening.

“NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Juno's voice screeched out across the cavern. “STOP! YOU'RE RUINING EVERYTHING!” Her screams echoed throughout the temple, only to stop as suddenly as they started.

The light slowly faded and Shaun and Rebecca lowered their hands, not quite knowing what to expect. They were met with the sight of William and Desmond, alive but breathless.

“What the hell happened?” Shaun asked, voice quiet.

“I...I don't really know. Did it work?” Desmond wheezed, bent over. Rebecca ran over to her computer to check if anything was being posted online.

“Are you alright, son?” William slowly walked over to Desmond, his whole body shaking.

“I think so. I'm alive, at least,” Desmond huffed, a small laugh escaping.

“Hey guys, you did it! There's reports coming in of a - what is they're calling it? - 'worldwide Aurora Borealis'. That must have been what Juno was talking about, the protection she offered,” Rebecca shouted out across the cave.

“Speaking of psychotic First Civ women, do we know where she is?” Shaun wondered, glancing around as if expecting her to suddenly jump out from behind a rock.

“She's gone,” Desmond said bluntly. “I'd say dead, but I'm not entirely sure she was alive in the first place. Something must have happened to her when Dad and I both touched the eye.”

“Oh. Well, I can't say that I'll mourn the loss,” Shaun quipped.

“Yeah, me neither,” Rebecca agreed. “So...I guess we can leave here now, right?”

“Yes. I'll get in contact with Gavin Banks, let him know the situation. He'll find us somewhere to stay,” William agreed. “I need to contact the Council as well. Now all this is over, there's someone I want joining this team.”

“Is that really necessary? We're fine as we are, we can manage without anyone else,” Shaun griped. “We don't need a stranger butting in.”

“We need someone to replace Lucy, someone who can help me lead you all, and I know exactly who that is,” William replied. “She's highly skilled, has the ability to take down difficult targets as if it's nothing more than a walk in the park. We need someone like that now we've got a Piece of Eden. The Council haven't a clue yet where to put it, meaning we need to hold on to it for now.”

“Lucky us, then,” Shaun muttered, folding his arms in irritation.

“Aw, come on Shaun, it won't be so bad. You never know, the two of you might fall in love and end up getting married!” Rebecca cackled, laughing harder as Shaun stuck his middle finger up at her.

<><><>

Carefully balancing the cup holder in one hand, Shaun opened his umbrella again and began the journey back to the safe house. He knew the Veteran would receive her Official Relocation Order later on today and would be arriving with them at some point in the evening, as she was also somewhere in the city with her current team. He still wasn't best pleased about the whole thing but there wasn't anything that he could do. _Still_ , he thought, _it'll be nice for Rebecca to have some female company. Stop her complaining_.

Shaun was so preoccupied with his thoughts he didn't hear the fast-paced footsteps approaching until it was too late. He was crashed into by someone, the smoothies he was carrying exploding against them both.

“What the bloody hell, you fucking twat!” Shaun cried out as they staggered away.

“Shit! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!” they gasped.

“What the fuck, what kind of _moron_ goes running around in New York?” Shaun was livid as he turned to see who had ruined his favourite sweater. It was a woman, her hood pulled up over her hair. “Can't you at least look where you're going?” He could see she'd injured herself at some point recently as her lip was bleeding but he was too angry to feel any concern.

“Look, I said I was sorry. It was clearly an accident, there's no need to continue with the name calling,” she retorted, her hands held up in what she obviously meant as an apologetic gesture. This only served to make Shaun angrier.

“No, I think there is a need. Only a special kind of idiotic moron goes running around on the sidewalk in a city a busy as New York! What's the matter with you, were you dropped on your head as a child?” he sneered. Her face hardened and her hands fell to her sides.

“Oh, you sanctimonious son of a-” She stopped suddenly as a voice yelled out.

“The Assassin went this way!”

 _What?!_ Shaun's mind went into overdrive and his heart began to race. Why were they looking for him? How did they know where he was? Was everyone else OK?

“Oh, bollocks!” Her voice brought him back out of his thoughts and he suddenly realised they weren't after him. They were after _her_.

“Did they just say 'Assassin'?” Shaun asked. She looked back at him, panic written all over her face. She didn't respond, instead choosing to sprint away down the street. Shaun heard footsteps getting closer and he quickly ducked his head down, moving the umbrella so he was partly obscured as the Abstergo agents, he assumed, hurried past. As soon as they were far enough away, Shaun walked on as quickly as he could. He guessed that whoever that had been must be a part of the other team in New York, a Novice or another of the lower ranks most likely. There was no way that he'd been almost toppled over by the Veteran Assassin who'd they were expecting that evening.

<><><>

“I am so pleased we're finally getting another woman on the team,” Rebecca said excitedly as she checked the camera feed on her computer screen for the tenth time in as many minutes. She had been going on about it all day. “Plus she's a Veteran, so she obviously knows her stuff. Probably has some sweet moves she could teach us. Oh man, this is going to be _awesome!_ ”

“I think you should avoid sugar for the rest of the evening,” Shaun said from his desk at the back of the room. “If you get any more worked up you'll scare her off.”

“I thought you'd be more excited, Shaun, seeing as she's British,” Desmond piped up, looking up from the book he was reading.

“Oh, of course, because she's British that means I should be giddy with anticipation,” Shaun said sarcastically. “Where she is from is irrelevant. Do you get all worked up when you know you're going to meet someone else from whatever Midwestern state it was you grew up in?”

“Seriously, dude, you need to chill out. You've been sulking all day. It's just a goddamn sweater,” Desmond sighed. “By the way, I grew up in South Dakota, which you're well aware of.”

Shaun huffed and went back to typing on his laptop. He hadn't told them the full story of what had happened to him that morning, simply saying someone had ran into him because they weren't paying attention. He hadn't wanted to worry anyone unnecessarily. If the Assassin had been caught or killed it would have been all over the network, and nothing had come up.

The sound of someone pressing the door buzzer rang through the apartment.

“That's her!” Rebecca squealed. She pressed the button for the intercom that was on the wall next to her. “Look up towards the camera on the right.”

Shaun looked over at Rebecca's monitor, his curiosity getting the better of him. His jaw tensed as a face came into view.

“ _Oh, come on!_ ” he muttered to himself. It was her. The Assassin who had ran into him earlier, the one who had destroyed his favourite (and very expensive) sweater.

 _How the hell did she get to be a Veteran if she can't even look where she's bloody well going?_ Shaun groaned internally and turned back to his laptop.

“Alright, facial recognition confirmed! I'll buzz you in!” Rebecca bubbled excitedly, unlocking the door. She jumped up and walked quickly into the hallway.

“Hey, I'm so glad you're here!” Rebecca's muffled voice sounded a moment later from the hallway. Shaun rolled his eyes. Rebecca was so keen she hadn't even waited for a knock. He heard a muffled introduction from the Veteran, recognising the voice. _Yep, that's definitely the same woman from this morning. Fan-bloody-tastic._

“Everyone, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our little collective,” Rebecca announced a few moments later as she walked into the room. Shaun continued to type, not bothering to turn around for the introduction. He'd already met her, he didn't need to again.

“And that's Shaun over there. He's sulking because someone ruined his favourite sweater this morning.”

“I am not _sulking_ , Rebecca. I'm in mourning,” Shaun said, not looking away from the screen. “That sweater was cashmere, it went with everything I own and I'll never find another one like it. All because some _inconsiderate prat_ was running around this morning.” He smirked to himself at his little jibe. She probably didn't even remember who he was, so she wouldn't catch on that he was indirectly insulting her.

“Stop being a pain in the ass, Shaun, and come and say hi!” Rebecca cajoled.

Shaun sighed and spun around in his chair to face her. His eyes were narrowed into a glare, which she returned. Ah. So she did remember him. “We've already met.”

_The universe obviously hates me._

 


	3. Yoga

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things between you and Shaun aren't any better the next day, but there are more important things to think about.

 “ _We need to leave, now!” Your father burst into the room, interrupting your training session with your mother._

“ _What is it?” your mother asked as your father raced about the room, shoving various items and weapons into the bags he was carrying. He passed one to you and one to your mother._

“ _Put as much as you can in these. There's some clothes and other supplies already in them.” He gave your mother a look and she seemed to instantly know what was happening. Her eyes widened and she moved quickly around the room, picking up what you knew were important books and documents._

“ _Dad, what's going on?” Your heart was pounding as your parents moved around you._

“ _There's no time to explain. Just grab as much as you can.”_

_You did as he said, hands trembling. You grabbed bullets, some small throwing knives and your journal that had been given to you by your grandmother._

“ _That's everything.” Your mother moved over to the wall at the back of the room and pressed her hand against the underside of a table. A panel you'd never known was there opened and your mother ushered you and your father inside before pressing a switch, plunging the space into darkness as the panel closed firmly._

“ _Keep moving ahead,” she whispered to you, a hand on your shoulder as she turned on a torch to light the way._

_You nodded and began to move forward, your mother's hand still resting reassuringly on you._

“ _Why are we leaving, what's happening?” you asked, your young voice shaking._

“ _We shouldn't lie to her,” your mother said as your father opened his mouth to speak. “She's old enough to know what's really happening.”_

“ _She's only twelve,” he countered, his brow furrowing. “I don't think-” A bang cut him off, freezing you in your tracks._

“ _Shit. Keep moving.” You were pushed forward by your mother. “We need to tell her.”_

“ _Alright! Alright,” your father turned to look at you, taking your hand in his so you walked alongside him._

_He took a deep breath and squeezed your hand tightly. “The Templars...they've found us. They've found a lot of Assassin's all over the world, and they're...they're killing them.”_

_Your stomach clenched and bile rose in your throat. You knew what this was, you'd read about them. This was a Purge._

*~*~*

The rain hammering on the window roused you from your slumber. Opening your eyes, you groaned at the pain in your head. You'd spent most of the night drinking and getting to know Rebecca and Desmond after William and Shaun had gone off to bed and now you were paying for it. Desmond certainly knew how to mix his cocktails.

Throwing off the bed covers and sitting up, you rubbed your hands over your face and through your hair. A check of your watch told you it was just after 8AM. You'd only gone to bed barely five hours earlier.

“I'll never get back to sleep with that rain,” you mumbled to yourself as you stood up. The apartment was silent, everyone else still asleep. _Perfect time for some hangover-busting yoga_ , you thought, pulling out your yoga mat from your bag. There was once a time you'd thought yoga ridiculous and pointless, but that was before you discovered how good it was at easing of your hangovers. Luis had been your teacher, insisting you try it after a particularly heavy night with Ilana. You'd been sceptical but your pounding head had caused you to give in to his pestering, purely to shut him up. However you found that by the end of the session you were feeling much better and agreed to Luis's suggestion of learning more.

Once you were dressed you walked out into the main common area with the mat under your arm. You placed it on to the floor and placed your earbuds into your ears, pressing 'play' on your iPod and sliding it into the band around your arm. As the soft music started to play you felt your whole body relax and you began.

As you moved, your mind wandered to the members of your new team. You'd definitely enjoyed yourself last night with Rebecca and Desmond. They'd told you about themselves and filled you in of the events they'd been through over the past few months, confirming that they had indeed saved the world from a solar flare, leaving you more than a little impressed. You'd in turn told them about yourself, about growing up in England as the child of Master Assassin's and about your time in America with your previous team. You'd also told them the story about your meeting with Shaun, Rebecca finding the whole thing hilarious (although that could have been due to what she had been smoking earlier in the evening).

 _Shaun_...just thinking his name made you pull a face. He'd been in a sour mood all evening, making snippy little comments that were clearly aimed at getting a reaction out of you. At first you'd thought he'd was just annoyed because you'd accidentally bumped into him but it seemed to run a bit deeper than that. Maybe it was that he didn't like the fact you were now a member of his team, or that you ranked higher than he did.

You'd ignored all of his comments and were thankful when he finally went off to bed, your jaw starting to ache from being clenched to make sure you didn't yell at him. His smug and superior attitude had certainly made that rather difficult.

 _You've dealt with much worse_ , you reminded yourself as you changed pose, breathing deeply. _You can deal with the pain-in-the-arse that is Shaun Hastings._

Your hangover was feeling much less pronounced now. You returned to your normal standing position and turned your music off, tugging your earbuds from your ear. A noise behind you made you jump and you snapped around.

“Just how _did_ you get to Veteran if you aren't even aware of your surroundings?” Shaun was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal, giving you a disdainful look.

“Have you just been standing there watching me?” you asked, glaring at him. He shrugged as he poked his spoon into the bowl he was holding.

“Merely observing your technique,” he replied. You rolled your eyes.

“Good for you. I hope I met up to your lofty standards,” you said, sarcasm lacing your voice. “In response to your question, I got to Veteran because I'm excellent at what I do and I've managed to kill quite a few important Templars. What have you done lately, aside from sit in front of a monitor and type up database entries for Desmond to ignore?” Rebecca had told you last night that she and Shaun rarely did any field work and how Shaun had made database entries for Desmond whilst he was in the Animus, which Desmond admitted he rarely read.

“What I do is no less important than what you do,” he snapped.

“Of course not. I'll make sure I have a couple of your database entries to hand the next time I'm assassinating a target,” you smirked, picking up your mat and walking back into your room. “I've no doubt they'll be a _big_ help.”

 _That may have been a little harsh, but he deserved it. Smug bastard,_ you thought as you closed your door on his spluttering. You looked out of your window after throwing your mat down, noticing the rain had slowed down to a slight drizzle. _Much better than earlier. I might go for a run._ Running wasn't normally your exercise of choice due to all the times you'd ran from those trying to capture or kill you, but you really needed to do _something_ to get your heart pumping. In the past you'd spar with Alex or Jack but this apartment wasn't really big enough for you to spar with anyone, plus your wrist and face were still healing. Going for a run in Central Park was the next best thing, you supposed. You pulled on your shoes and grabbed a hoodie, slipping it over your head before tying your hair back. As an afterthought you grabbed some money from your purse, putting it into your pocket as you walked out of your room. You owed everyone a smoothie, after all.

Rebecca was now awake and sitting on the couch and Shaun was typing something on his laptop, his fingers hitting the keys with more force than necessary. _Seems I touched a nerve._

“Where are you off to?” Rebecca looked up from flicking through the channels on the TV.

“The rain's pretty much stopped so I thought I'd go for a run,” you told her. “Did you want to come?”

“Sure!” Rebecca jumped up from the couch and shut off the TV. “Let me grab my jacket.”

“Try to avoid colliding into people this time, won't you?” Shaun said, giving you a look over the frames of his glasses.

“That should be easy seeing as I'm unlikely to be running away from anyone trying to kill me this time,” you shot back before walking into the hallway and out of the door.

“Later, Shaun!” Rebecca called out behind her.

“We need milk!” he hollered as she shut the door, joining you by the elevator just as the doors were opening.

“How do you put up with him?” you asked her as you both stepped into the elevator.

“He's not that bad once you get to know him,” she shrugged. “That or I've just gotten used to his attitude.”

“I think I'd rather get used to being kicked in the shins repeatedly,” you grumbled.

Rebecca snorted, her shoulders shaking with mirth and you grinned at her.

*~*~*

“How are you doing, Becs?” you called out behind you as you waited for her to catch up.

“I'm good!” she wheezed as she staggered over to you. “Peachy!”

“You sure? Because you look a bit worn out.” You chuckled as Rebecca tried to look relaxed whilst breathing heavily, her face red.

“OK, so maybe it's been a while since I've done that much running,” she admitted. “Like I said, I tend to spend most of my time hacking into Abstergo's mainframe or working on Baby.” She trudged over to a nearby bench and sat down heavily. “I'll be fine in a minute.”

“I'm just going to check the area whilst you recover. I don't fancy being ambushed for the second time in two days.” You sat down next to her before surreptitiously scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. You relaxed once you saw everything was fine.

“Oh sweet, you've got Eagle Vision?” Rebecca looked at you, a fascinated expression on her face. “I've never met anyone who was born with it.”

“It took me years to perfect,” you told her. “At first I could just tell where people were and whether they were an enemy or not. As time went on I began to see more, areas I could hide if I was in trouble, points of interest. It's an incredibly useful skill. If I really concentrate I can 'see' so much more, like sense someone's heartbeat, although that really takes it out of me so I tend not to use it unless the situation is desperate.”

“That's so awesome,” Rebecca said, an impressed look on her face. “The next time I lose my MP3 player, I'm borrowing your eyes.”

You laughed. “I'll be happy to help.” You looked up at the sky, the grey clouds looming overhead. “Weather's looking pretty grim, we should probably make a move.”

You both stood up and you linked your arm with Rebecca's.

“We'll stop off at the store on the way back. Aside from needing milk, I owe you all a fruit smoothie.”

*~*~*

“We're back, did you miss us?” Rebecca called as she opened the door and walked in to the apartment with you following her, carrying the cupholder containing the drinks you had bought.

“Did you get the milk?” Shaun asked over his shoulder. Rebecca waggled the carton at him before heading to the kitchen.

“Seeing as I was partly responsible for you not getting them yesterday, I've bought everyone smoothies,” you declared as you placed the cupholder on the coffee table in front of the TV.

“Only 'partly responsible?'” Shaun turned to look at you, pulling a face of disbelief.

“The rest of the blame lies with the agents chasing me,” you stated. “I'd have been walking if they weren't after me.”

Shaun opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again as William spoke up from the kitchen doorway.

“Good, you're back. We need to discuss some things.” He gestured for you to join him in the kitchen. He was sitting at the small table, documents in front of him along with a spherical object you'd never seen before. You sat down across from him.

“We're leaving for Luxembourg in two days,” he stated, pushing a file in your direction. Luxembourg had become an Assassin stronghold during the last few years, successfully managing to hold off any attacks from neighbouring Belgium, which was mostly under Templar control. You glanced quickly over the file, already suspecting why you were heading there. You were proven right when a name jumped out at you.

“Amelia Cavendish,” you spat. She was Belgium's Templar Grand Master. She'd been your target the day before, in New York visiting family, and now it seemed she had returned to Belgium.

“Amelia Cavendish,” William confirmed. “It's going to take some planning to get her, especially as security around her will be tight.” You shifted in your seat, once again irritated with yourself at what had happened.

“I'll get her next time. You have my word,” you promised.

William nodded. “The Council has asked that we to monitor her activities for a few weeks and learn her routine so we know the best time to strike. You'll be undertaking the mission with Desmond but you'll need to train him to bring him up to standard.”

“Alright. I'll get that started as soon as we arrive at the Luxembourg Sanctuary,” you confirmed, passing the file back to William. “What's with the paperweight?” You nodded at the sphere, reaching your hand out and taking hold of it.

“This is one of the reasons I wanted you here. This is an Apple of Eden,” he explained. “It can control minds, create illusions and kill enemies. You can help us protect it while it's here.”

Your head snapped up. Like most of the Assassin's, you knew about the Pieces of Eden but you'd never realised the power that some of them possessed.

“If it does all that then why, in the name of Altaïr, was it just sitting here?! In the wrong hands, this could cause so much tragedy and finding somewhere to keep this should be the Council's priority right now, not asking us to check when Amelia Cavendish has her fucking breakfast!” Your voice was raised and angry. You closed your eyes, forcing yourself to calm down. “It needs to be locked away. There's only so much we can do to protect it from the Templars.”

“We're working on it,” William insisted. “At least when we get to Luxembourg it'll have the added protection of the Sanctuary.”

You passed the Apple back to him, a hard look on your face. “I fear that may not be enough.”

<><><>

**Shaun**

“Urgh,” Shaun grumbled as he opened his eyes. _Bloody rain,_ he thought, scowling at the window. He reached over to his night stand and grabbed his glasses, putting them on before he climbed out of his warm bed. He stretched and yawned as he moved towards his closet, mentally running through his list of tasks for the day as he got dressed.

“I'm definitely going to need some breakfast,” he mumbled to himself as his stomach growled. “If Desmond's drank all the milk I'm going to smack him.”

He opened his bedroom door and walked into the main common area, where he was greeted by the sight of someone bent over a yoga mat. It took Shaun a moment to realise it was _her_. She hadn't noticed him enter due to the music playing through her earbuds.

He huffed a sigh, irritated. He hadn't expected anyone else to be awake this early and was looking forward to watching whatever he wanted on the TV instead of having to endure the ridiculous soaps Rebecca forced everyone to watch. Now he was going to have to deal with the newbie.

 _Great. Just...great. Oh well, I suppose there are worse things to wake up to,_ he mused, walking to the kitchen. _She's got quite a nice arse._ He stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening. _Where the fuck did that come from?!_ He shook his head to clear it. _I'm fine. I need food, that's all. I do NOT find her arse nice. No. Definitely not._

He busied himself getting a bowl of cereal. Luckily there was enough milk left but someone would need to get more later.

He leaned against the doorway into the kitchen as he ate, watching her move. He used to do yoga himself quite regularly but recent events had gotten in the way.

 _I am simply observing her yoga technique. That is all_ , he convinced himself. She moved into one last pose before returning to her normal stance and tugging her earbuds out. Seeing she still hadn't picked up on his presence he tapped his spoon against the side of the bowl he was holding, testing to see if she'd notice. _She will if she's as good an Assassin as William says,_ he reasoned. She did notice, whipping around almost instantly with her hand on her chest.

“Just how _did_ you get to Veteran if you aren't even aware of your surroundings?” Shaun said as he gave her a disdainful look.

“Have you just been standing there watching me?” she asked, glaring at him. He shrugged as he scooped the last of his cereal onto his spoon.

“Merely observing your technique,” he replied before finishing his breakfast.

“Good for you. I hope I met up to your lofty standards,” she said sarcastically. “In response to your question, I got to Veteran because I'm excellent at what I do and I've managed to kill quite a few important Templars. What have you done lately, aside from sit in front of a monitor and type up database entries for Desmond to ignore?”

Shaun tensed up at her comment. “What I do is no less important than what you do,” he snapped.

“Of course not. I'll make sure I have a couple of your database entries to hand the next time I'm assassinating a target,” she smirked, walking away. “I've no doubt they'll be a _big_ help.” She closed her bedroom door behind her.

Shaun stomped into the kitchen, throwing the bowl into the sink and wincing as it clattered loudly.

“Morning, Shaun!” Rebecca's cheery voice cut through him like a knife as he turned to look at her. She sucked in a breath through her teeth as she noticed his expression. “What's your problem this morning?”

“ _She's_ the problem!” he snarled, pointing towards the bedroom door that the bane of his life was currently behind.

“You two _really_ got off to a bad start, didn't you?” Rebecca sighed as she sat down on the couch, turning on the TV and flicking through the channels.

“Entirely her fault,” Shaun grumbled as he sat down in front of his laptop and began typing furiously. “She's the one that crashed into me.” _Crash. That can be her new name,_ he decided. _Probably should keep that to myself for now._

He heard her come out of her bedroom but he didn't turn around. He was still pissed off about her comments.

“Where are you off to?” Rebecca asked her.

“The rain's pretty much stopped so I thought I'd go for a run,” she replied. “Did you want to come?”

Shaun held back a snort. He wasn't so sure that was a good idea, given what he'd seen of her running skills.

“Try to avoid colliding into people this time, won't you?” Shaun commented, finally turning to look at her.

“That should be easy seeing as I'm unlikely to be running away from anyone trying to kill me this time,” she retorted, disappearing into the hallway.

“Later, Shaun!” Rebecca called as she walked past.

“We need milk!” he yelled just as she closed the door. “Bugger, I doubt Rebecca heard me. Maybe Crash did.” He chuckled. “Yeah, that name definitely works.”

<><><>

“Have you received anything from the Council yet?” William asked, walking over to where Shaun was seated.

“In fact, I have. Just printing it now,” Shaun confirmed. He handed the pages over to William. “Can I know where are we going?”

William gave the paper a quick glance before speaking. “Luxembourg. Amelia Cavendish has returned to Belgium after what happened yesterday, so we'll deal with her there. Going through Luxembourg is the best strategy.”

“Do you think it's wise letting your Veteran go after her? It didn't exactly go well yesterday from what I saw,” Shaun sniffed.

He had already told William what had happened and had been surprised when William said already he knew what had happened. ' _I'm a member of the Council, remember?'_ William had simply stated when Shaun questioned him.

“We've all made mistakes, Shaun. She's still the best person for the job,” William said, fixing Shaun with a stare. “That being said, she'll have someone with her this time. I don't know what Alex Boyd was thinking, sending her alone.” He walked back into the kitchen as he read the rest of the file, muttering to himself.

“We're back, did you miss us?” Rebecca's cheery voice called out a moment later before she entered the room, Crash following her.

“Did you get the milk?” Shaun asked over his shoulder. Rebecca waggled the carton at him before heading to the kitchen. He glanced over at Crash and groaned internally when he saw what she had in her hand. _Really, smoothies?_

“Seeing as I was partly responsible for you not getting them yesterday, I've bought everyone smoothies,” she declared as you placed she cupholder on the coffee table in front of the TV.

“Only 'partly responsible?'” Shaun turned fully to look at her, disbelief playing across his face.

“The rest of the blame lies with the agents chasing me,” she stated. “I'd have been walking if they weren't after me.”

Shaun was about to say something about her being chased because she botched the assassination, as payback for her earlier comments but William spoke up from the kitchen doorway before he could.

“Good, you're back. We need to discuss some things.” He gestured for her to follow him into the kitchen and she followed.

Rebecca went over to the coffee table and picked up a drink “Do you want your smoothie, Shaun?” she asked in a sing-song voice holding the cup out to him.

“I wanted it yesterday,” he muttered. Rebecca shrugged and went to put the cup back down but Shaun reached out and took the cup from her, scowling at her giggles.

“...finding somewhere to keep this should be the Council's priority right now, not asking us to check when Amelia Cavendish has her fucking breakfast!”

Shaun and Rebecca turned their heads into the direction of the kitchen at the sound of the raised voice.

“Seems she agrees with you about the Apple, Shaun,” Rebecca noted quietly, sipping her smoothie.

“Maybe William will listen to her objections about having it here, seeing as he won't listen to mine,” Shaun said, equally as quiet so as to hear the rest of the conversation. He found himself agreeing with her as she spoke; the Sanctuary's protection probably wouldn't be enough.


	4. Luxembourg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You've arrived in Luxembourg but you and Shaun continue to clash.

 

_**November 23 rd, 2000** _

 

_I'm not entirely sure why I grabbed this journal before we left, but I'm glad I did. I need to write this down. Things like this stay with you forever but writing it all down makes it easier to deal with somehow. Maybe it will help me sleep tonight._

_It's been four days since we escaped. Only a handful of us from the safe house made it out. We've been travelling for so long, never staying in one place for more than a few hours. We've stopped for the night somewhere in Kent, Dad taking first watch as the rest of us try and get some sleep._

_It's hard to believe what has happened. The Mentor is dead leaving the Council a mess. So many camps and safe houses have been attacked, nearly everyone in them killed...they've even killed children. They're monsters._

_Mum's told me what she knew; there had been a Templar agent planted in the Brotherhood. He had visited so many camps and safe houses hoping to find the Mentor, ours being one of them. I don't think I ever saw him and if I did, I don't remember._

_She said he'd been instructed to kill the Mentor (what lies he told the Assassin's helping him no one seems to know), and once he'd succeeded he returned to Abstergo and gave away our locations._

_Dad didn't want to tell me what was happening, telling Mum I was too young to know everything but she insisted I be told. She's always been like that, doesn't believe in shielding me from what's going on between Assassin's and Templars. She acts more like a Mentor than my Mother. Dad feels I should be allowed to have some form of a 'normal' childhood instead of the constant training and lessons I receive from her._

“ _She needs to be prepared,” she would always reply to his protests. “It's for her benefit.”_

_But I'm not prepared. I'm scared._

_I want to go home, but home isn't there any more._

_What are we going to do?_

*~*~*

The Luxembourg Sanctuary was bigger and better equipped than you'd expected. The Council had certainly been busy with their new headquarters.

 _Speaking of the Council..._ you were going to have to speak to them about the Apple. The Sanctuary wasn't secure enough for your liking. The Templar Order were well aware of an Assassin presence in the country, frequently attempting to find the Sanctuary itself. They hadn't succeeded in getting very far, the Council and the Luxembourg Assassins managing to keep them at bay, but all it would take is for one person to slip past their gaze. You hoped that when Amelia Cavendish had been dealt with it would be safer.

“This place is sweet!” Rebecca looked around the main hall in admiration as she set down the box she was carrying.

“They've done well,” you admitted. “I had a look at their training room; it's _awesome._ I've never seen one so big and well-equipped.”

“That's what she said!” Desmond yelled from across the room.

“You wish she said that!” you shot back, laughing.

“Must you be so _loud?_ ” Shaun walked in behind Desmond, scowling. “You're not helping my headache.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry, _Your Highness._ Please forgive us for daring to make a sound,” you snapped. You'd been stuck next to Shaun on the flight from New York and again on the connecting flight from Lisbon, having to put up with his smart comments and snarky attitude and you were sick of it. Having not slept in almost twenty-four hours had made your temper very short.

“I was simply asking you to do me a favour. I didn't realise that would be so bloody difficult for you to manage,” he snarled, walking towards you angrily.

“I'm sure you understand my confusion as the words 'favour' and 'please' weren't mentioned!” You began walking towards him as well, meeting in the middle of the hall.

“Woah, let's all just calm down,” Rebecca broke in as she stepped between the two of you. “Shaun, come help me unpack Baby.” She took hold of his arm and tugged him away from you.

You rubbed your hands over your face in frustration as they left. “Is there a pillow around here that I can scream into?” you groaned.

Desmond chuckled softly as he moved over to you. “Come on, why don't you show me this awesome training room?” he said as he threw his arm around your shoulder. You rested your head on his shoulder and put your arm around his waist as you strolled out of the hall.

“I don't know how you deal with him,” you asked after a moment of silence. “He's such a dick.”

“I thought that at first, too, but honestly, he's a nice guy. You just got off on the wrong foot,” he replied.

“I think there's more to it than me accidentally smacking into him and ruining his precious sweater. It's like he doesn't want me here, like me being here is some big ordeal for him,” you sighed.

Desmond's hand squeezed your shoulder. “We've been through a lot together and having someone new become part of the team has been...difficult for him. Truthfully, even Rebecca and I were slightly apprehensive about you joining us.”

You lifted your head up to look at him, giving him a small smile. “I get that, I suppose. I just wish he didn't feel the need to be such an _arse_ about it.”

Desmond pecked a kiss against your hair. “This is Shaun we're talking about. If he's not being an ass about something he's probably asleep.”

You laughed, nodding your head in agreement. “Speaking of sleep, I'm exhausted.” You patted Desmond on the back before removing your arm from around him. “I'll have to show you the training room later. I'm going to go and have a much-needed nap. ”

Desmond waved you off and headed in the direction that Rebecca and Shaun had gone, leaving you to find your way to the stairs that led up to the manor that the Sanctuary was underneath.

It took you longer than you'd have liked. The Sanctuary's winding corridors and sheer size caused you to get lost a couple of times. You were muttering curses under your breath by the time you'd reached the floor that housed the bedrooms.

“I'm going to have to draw myself a bloody map”, you grumbled as you trudged down the corridor towards your room, already wondering how you'd find your way back down there.

Finally in your room, you dropped heavily onto the mattress and closed your eyes, enjoying the silence.

It didn't last long. Shaun's voice sounded clearly through the thin wall closest to you, making your eyes snap open. He had the room next to you and a thin wall was all that was keeping you separate.

You grabbed the pillow from under your head, placed it over your face and screamed into it.

*~*~*

The next morning you woke feeling much more relaxed than you had been. You dressed in your training gear and, as an afterthought, strapped your hidden blade to your arm. You'd seen some training dummies in the Sanctuary that looked perfect for you and Desmond to practice assassination techniques on and figured there was no time like the present.

Your stomach growled loudly and you suddenly realised you hadn't eaten anything for quite a while. Remembering seeing a dining hall when you arrived yesterday, you quickly went to find it again. Desmond was already there, eating what looked like a weeks worth of bacon and eggs. You dropped down into the chair next to him and gave him a look, your eyebrow raised.

“Wha?” he said, mouth full.

“You got enough there?” you asked, smirking.

Desmond (thankfully) swallowed what he was eating before he replied. “It's been too long since I've had a decent breakfast. I'm making up for lost time.”

“Yeah, well as long there's enough left for me,” you chuckled, standing up to go to the kitchen and find something to eat. There was an impressive selection of food to choose from and you filled your plate with as much as you could. _I'm going to need the energy_ , you reasoned to yourself before making yourself some tea and walking back out to sit down again.

“Is it me or is everyone looking at me?” Desmond muttered to you quietly. You cast your eyes quickly around the room and found that the Luxembourg Assassin's who were loitering around the dining hall would occasionally cast a furtive glance at Desmond.

“They are,” you replied casually.

“Any idea why? It's kind of...weird.” he shuddered.

You took a gulp of tea before you answered. “You're the son of a Mentor and you saved the world a couple of weeks ago. You're practically a superhero to these guys, Des! I'd have thought that would have been obvious.”

Desmond smiled a little and sat slightly straighter in his chair at your reply, causing you to roll your eyes. You both ate in a comfortable silence, you devising a training plan for the day.

“Where's Rebecca?” you asked once your breakfast was finished, standing up to clear your plate.

“In the Sanctuary. Something about Belgium and data banks,” Desmond replied, waving his hand vaguely. “Rebecca was excited and talking too quickly.”

“It's so cute when she does that,” you sighed fondly. “How about Captain Pleasant? Where's he spreading his patented brand of joy and cheer this morning?”

Desmond snorted, covering his mouth with his hand as he tried not to laugh. “I think he's down there too.”

You grinned at him. “You ready to get going?”

“Just let me grab my blade and we'll make a move,” he said before jogging off. He returned a minute later, tightening the straps of the weapon as he walked. “OK, I'm ready.”

You surprised yourself by finding the way to the Sanctuary fairly quickly, only getting lost once.

“Morning,” you called out as you entered the room Rebecca and Shaun were sitting in. “Thought I'd pop my head in before Des and I get started.”

“Oh, hey! If you've got some time before you start training I've found something you might like,” Rebecca said, motioning for you to come over.

“What is it?” you asked as you walked over to her, Desmond following you.

She pointed at her monitor. “I've found Abstergo's file on you. I thought you'd like a read.”

“No way!” You grinned as you turned your attention to the screen. “Wow, that's an old picture. I think I'm about twenty there. Alright, let's see what they've got to say about me.” You scanned the screen as you stood behind Rebecca's chair. “'Highly skilled and efficient, she is known for assassinating several Master Templars and at least four Grand Masters of the Templar Order'.”

“Nice,” Desmond clapped you on the back, impressed.

“They've missed off my greatest achievement though: pistol-whipping Violet Da Costa in the face with her own gun. That was a _great_ night,” you chuckled. “What else have they got here? 'Last seen escaping after the assassination of Master Templar Michael Sanders in 2011'. Meaning they have no idea it was me who went after Cavendish in New York, excellent! That's definitely going to work in our favour.” You moved away and started to walk out of the room. “Come on, Des. We've got work to do.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Desmond asked once you were in the main hall, looking at you with concern.

“Uh...yeah, I'm fine. Why?” you asked, puzzled.

“Well, you and Shaun were within a metre of each other and there was no yelling!” Desmond laughed. You hit him in the shoulder, which only caused him to laugh harder.

<><><>

**Shaun**

Shaun was frazzled. It had been a long journey and he had an agonising headache, which wasn't being eased by everyone _shouting!_

“Must you be so _loud?_ ” he scowled as he walked in to the main hall behind Desmond.

Crash instantly turned on him, anger clouding her features. “Oh, I'm so sorry, _Your Highness._ Please forgive us for daring to make a sound,” she snapped.

Shaun felt his own anger rise. “I was simply asking you to do me a favour. I didn't realise that would be so bloody difficult for you to manage,” he snarled, walking towards her angrily.

“I'm sure you understand my confusion as the words 'favour' and 'please' weren't mentioned!” She began walking towards him as well and they met in the middle of the hall.

“Woah, let's all just calm down,” Rebecca broke in as she stepped between the two of them. “Shaun, come help me unpack Baby.” She took hold of his arm and tugged him away. “Christ, Shaun, what were you going to do, start a fight with her in the middle of the Sanctuary?”

“No, of course not,” he groaned. “I'm just tired and my head is pounding.”

Rebecca tutted as she opened one of the boxes next to her. “What's your excuse every other time? It can't _still_ be about the whole smoothie incident.”

Shaun leaned against the wall. “It's just...agh, she's so fucking difficult to get along with!” he groaned, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

“That's rich coming from you,” Rebecca muttered as she tapped something on the console of the Animus.

Shaun glared at her as he placed his glasses back on. “Remind me why we're friends?”

“Because I saved your ass,” she smirked. “Look, you want to know what I think?”

“Not really,” Shaun put in.

Rebecca ignored him and continued, “I think that the problem is you're both too alike and because you didn't get off to a good start with each other, you're clashing.”

“That's ridiculous,” Shaun sighed, rolling his eyes.

“You know I'm right.” Rebecca's eyes softened as she walked over to Shaun and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just...give her a chance, yeah? I know it's hard having someone new here, given everything that we've gone through.”

Shaun kept his gaze on the floor. Rebecca squeezed his shoulder before moving back over to the Animus.

“Have we calmed down now?” Desmond's voice made Shaun look up to see him in the doorway.

“Yeah, we're good here, right Shaun?” Rebecca said, looking pointedly at Shaun.

“Yes, fine,” he replied tersely. “I'm going to see if I've any pain killers in my luggage before my head splits open.” He pushed himself off of the wall and walked quickly towards the stairs out of the Sanctuary.

He thought about what Rebecca had said, finding the whole notion ridiculous. He and Crash were _nothing_ alike! She was short tempered, sarcastic and snappy. _I'm nothing like that!_

He reached his bedroom and began to rummage through his luggage, groaning when he realised he didn't have any pain killers. He looked around the room, as if some would suddenly appear.

“Bollocks. I'll have to go and see if anyone else has got any,” he said to himself. A noise that sounded like a muffled yell from the next room caught his attention.

_Was that...oh fucking hell, it's her. This isn't even funny any more._

<><><>

“Good morning, Becs,” Shaun hummed as Rebecca walked into the room. He had woken up early, as usual, and after breakfast had gone down into the Sanctuary to make a start on his tasks.

“Morning, Shaun,” Rebecca yawned. She had a cup of coffee in one hand, a croissant in the other. “How's the head?”

“Better now I've had some sleep. Thanks for the aspirin yesterday,” he replied, looking over his shoulder as he typed.

“No problem,” Rebecca said as she sat down in front of her monitor. She took a large gulp of her coffee. “Alright, let's get this started.”

“Hacking into the data banks today, right?” Shaun asked.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, her mouth full of pastry. “Finf ou' wha' Caffendiff if uh tuh.”

Shaun wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I didn't get a word of that, you animal.”

Rebecca swallowed her food down. “I said, find out what Cavendish is up to! We need her schedule before we can do anything else.” She began to type, her fingers flying over the keyboard at an impressive speed.

She worked non-stop for about fifteen minutes before she stopped abruptly. “Hey, I've found our Veteran!”

Shaun leaned over to look at Rebecca's screen to see the Abstergo file for Crash. She was definitely younger in the picture they had of her but she didn't look that much different.

“Oh man, are you reading this? 'Highly skilled and efficient, she is known for assassinating several Master Templars and at least four Grand Masters of the Templar Order'!” Rebecca blurted. “No wonder William wanted her with us!”

Shaun had to admit it _was_ impressive. He'd never tell anyone that, though. She'd be even more unbearable if she knew what he thought.

“Morning.” As if summoned by his thoughts, Crash walked in. “Thought I'd pop my head in before Des and I get started.”

“Oh, hey! If you've got some time before you start training I've found something you might like,” Rebecca said, motioning for her to come over and showing her the file. Shaun continued to concentrate on the data on his screen as she read out what was in her file.

“They've missed off my greatest achievement though: pistol-whipping Violet Da Costa in the face with her own gun. That was a _great_ night,” she chuckled. Shaun found himself grinning at that. She stayed a little longer before walking away with Desmond.

“Well done, you managed to be in the same room without insulting each other,” Rebecca beamed. “Maybe there is hope for the two of you after all!”

Shaun huffed at her mocking as she snickered to herself.


	5. Breaking Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get some answers regarding the Apple, Ilana has some worrying news and tensions between you and Shaun boil over.

_**December 24 th, 2000** _

_I didn't even realise it was Christmas Eve until I wrote the date. Dad is the one who gets excited for Christmas in our family._

_Was. Was the one. I keep forgetting to do that._

_We were in an abandoned building about two weeks ago. We'd met up with another small group of Assassins on the outskirts of the city at the beginning of the month, believing we'd be safer in numbers. For a while, it seemed we were. Maybe that's what the problem was, we'd stopped looking over our shoulders so often, believed they'd stopped looking for us. They hadn't._

_I was woken up by a banging. Someone was trying to break their way in._

“ _Get up! Come on, you need to get up!” Mum whispered, tugging harshly on my arm. I stumbled up, still groggy from sleep. An almighty crash rang out, the splintering of wood and shattering of glass. “Assassin's! We know you're in here!”_

_They'd found us. I started to shake, terrified, more so than I'd ever been in my life._

_Dad ran over to me and bent down, taking my face in his hands._

“ _You need to run, my darling. Go with your mother,” he murmured quietly, before placing a kiss on my forehead._

“ _No, please don't,” I begged, knowing he planned to stay and hold them off._

“ _I'll catch you up,” he insisted, standing up and turning to Mum. He handed her his bag and tapped the touch screen on his blade bracer._

“ _It'll detonate if anything happens,” he said to her. She nodded, kissing him before pulling me away._

_Mum rarely showed any affection towards us. It was clear she didn't expect Dad to come back. He didn't expect to come back either._

_Another loud crash sounded, Abstergo's agents breaking in to the building. Mum grabbed my wrist and pulled me sharply away from Dad, who turned towards the noise. He and another Assassin ran forward and began to fight. I struggled against Mum, not wanting to leave Dad behind. The rest of our group sped past us, leaping out of the windows to escape._

“ _We need to go!” Mum cried as I struggled, pulling me around to face her._

“ _We can't leave him!” I begged as I turned back around, just in time to see my father shot dead in front of me._

_I shouldn't have turned around. I should have stopped struggling and gone when she insisted._

_Mum gave one last sharp tug of my wrist and I stopped resisting, staggering after her as we fled. We only just made it to a safe distance before the factory exploded, Dad's hidden blade detonating after detecting no pulse from his wrist._

_My whole body shook as I sobbed, the situation hitting me. Dad was dead. They'd killed him as he fought to protect us and by doing so they had destroyed whatever childhood I had left._

*~*~*

The unspoken truce you and Shaun seemed to have didn't last the day.

You had spent nearly all day training and sparring with Desmond, determined to improve his skills. What he'd learnt whilst in the Animus was pretty good but you still felt there was room for improvement.

“There's no such thing as being too prepared,” you'd said when Desmond had complained about being made to practice a technique for the fifth time.

Rebecca came to watch the two of you at one point, joining the small group of Assassin's that had gathered, eager to see a Veteran in action. A little later Shaun turned up looking for Rebecca and she made him watch for some reason. You noticed him looking at you a couple of times with disdain, as if he believed you were doing something wrong.

 _I'd like to see you do any better,_ you had thought, scowling at him. You bit your tongue to keep yourself from calling him a few choice names, feeling them best saved for another time when you weren't being watched by the other Assassin's. To your relief he left after about ten minutes, tugging Rebecca along with him. You would perform better without him scrutinising your technique.

At the end of another round of sparring you called it a day, much to poor Desmond's relief. A few of the other Assassin's groaned in disappointment before they left, clearly wanting to see more.

“It's like you're trying to kill me,” he gasped, tired and sweaty.

“Abstergo agents _will_ be trying to kill you. I'm just making sure you're good enough to stop them from succeeding,” you shrugged, passing him a bottle of water.

“I need to lie down,” Desmond whined, promptly stretching himself out on the floor. “I feel like all you did was beat me up. What happened to you showing me some assassination tricks?”

“Your hand-to-hand skill, whilst better than most, wasn't as strong as I'd have liked so I wanted us to concentrate on that today. You got a couple of good hits in, so it was all worth it,” you answered, smiling. You helped Desmond up off of the floor as he protested. “We can stab dummies all day tomorrow.”

“Good, because I'm really not going to be able to do that again any time soon,” he winced, gingerly walking out of the room.

“Please, today was _nothing_. Just wait until the mission gets closer. Then you'll see what an intense session is,” you chortled.

“I'm too tired to even make a comment about how _wrong_ that sounds,” he groaned.

*~*~*

“What the hell was with the looks you were shooting me at training? Do you have a problem with the way I do things?” You were opening your bedroom door when Shaun turned the corner and strolled into the corridor. You'd wanted to find out what his problem had been all evening but hadn't had the chance. Now, with no one else around, it seemed like the perfect time.

“You're just picking arguments with me now. If you want me to talk to you, all you need to do is ask nicely,” he sneered as he approached.

You put your hands on your hips and fixed him with a look. “Shut up and answer the question, and don't play stupid. You know full well what you were doing.”

“'Play stupid', do you hear yourself? You are aware who you're talking to, right?” he scoffed.

“Yeah, I'm talking to a smug pain-in-the-arse who thinks he's the living embodiment of the bloody Renaissance and who is avoiding my question.”

Shaun crossed him arms over his chest before replying. “Your techniques were outdated. I'm surprised someone as 'skilled and efficient' as yourself still uses them.”

“There's nothing wrong with those techniques! Anyway, if you'd bothered to stick around you'd have seen me use more recent ones. I feel Desmond should know as many as possible,” you shot back. “If you think you're so good at hand-to-hand combat, why don't you come down tomorrow and get in there with me yourself?” You leaned towards him. “I promise I'll be gentle,” you purred.

Shaun huffed before storming into his room and slamming the door behind him.

“That's what I thought,” you muttered to yourself, smirking triumphantly as you entered your bedroom. Leaning against the door after you closed it you could hear his angry muttering coming through the wall and you growled in frustration, smirk disappearing. The only room next to yours and _he_ was in it. “It really doesn't help that he's kind of hot when he's angry,” you reluctantly admitted to yourself.

Sighing, you pushed yourself off the door and changed into your nightclothes, eager to get into bed and get the day over with. Your phone ringing caught your attention however before you could bundle yourself up under your covers.

“For crying out loud,” you frowned as you reached over to grab it. Your frown morphed into a wide smile as you saw who it was.

“Ilana!” you squealed happily as you answered.

“Hey, honey, how are you?” Just hearing her softly accented voice made you feel better.

“Oh, I'm fine. All the better for speaking to you,” you chirped.

“Alex says you're in Luxembourg at the Council's sanctuary! Must be something important for you to be there?” Ilana chattered.

“It's only because it'll be easier for us to get Cavendish now she's back in Belgium,” you told her, purposely leaving out the information about the Piece of Eden that was also here. You _still_ needed to talk to the Council about that. Maybe you could do that tomorrow.

“You're not going alone this time, are you?” she fretted. “After what happened last time? I know you're perfectly capable of-”

“No, I'm not, so you can stop worrying,” you cut in.

You heard her let out a breath in relief. “Oh good. Promise me you'll be careful?”

“I promise,” you reassured her. “So, how has it been since I left?”

Ilana went quiet.“It's...been tense.”

Your brow furrowed. “Tense? Why?”

“Alex seems to think that the reason you were ambushed back in December was...oh, it seems ridiculous just thinking about it!” She took a deep breath. “He thinks you were set up.”

It was your turn to go quiet. “What? That...that's crazy!” Your mind was racing. Had you been betrayed? _No, of course not!_

“I know, that's what I told him! He came to me a few days ago with his suspicions about Luis and Jack,” Ilana confided. “I asked him how he was so sure _I_ wasn't a traitor.” She let out a small laugh. “He simply said he knows me too well.”

“He's mad if he thinks Jack or Luis would betray us. What happened to me in December was just an unfortunate turn of events. The information was incorrect and I put too much faith in it,” you insisted.

“But Alex is certain that the information _was_ correct, that the building _was_ going to be all but empty! He thinks that Cavendish was told she was being targeted shortly before you left the safe house, giving her enough time to get some guards in place,” Ilana replied.

You sighed, rubbing your temple. “I think Alex has been stuck indoors for too long. Jack and Luis...neither of them would do that. It's just not them.”

“I wish you were here to tell Alex that. He'd listen to you,” she mumbled.

You were both silent for a moment.

“Have you been up to anything else?” you asked, breaking the silence.

“Nothing interesting. We've been keeping tabs on a suspected Templar cell here in the city, but we've not had anything solid on them yet,” Ilana replied, grateful for the change in topic. “I'm currently sat in Central Park having just spent an hour watching a grocery store, of all places, that we suspect to be linked. You know what found out? Fuck all!”

You laughed, the worry and tension from your earlier conversation slowly disappearing. “Oh, Ilana, I miss you!”

“I miss you too, honey. Anyway, enough about work! Give me some gossip. What's your new team like?” she probed.

“How long have you got? There's this one guy here...”

*~*~*

“William, I need to speak to the Council.” You'd cornered him after breakfast the following morning. “Please can you call an assembly?”

“Good morning to you, too,” he grumbled. “Can I ask what you need to speak to the entire Council for instead of just speaking to me?”

“I need to know what they're doing with the Apple. You wanted me on this team to help protect it, so I think I should know what the plan is,” you explained.

William took a deep breath, considering your request.

“Alright. I'll speak to them and see if we can call an assembly this afternoon,” he agreed, nodding his head. “You've got your robes?”

“Yes, somewhere in my room. Keeping up the traditions, I see?”

William hummed. “Of course. I'll let you know what they say.”

“Thanks.” You nodded at him before going to meet with Desmond in the training room.

You spent the morning showing him different assassination styles, the best ways to use the hidden blade that you knew and ways you had used on some of your targets. Part way through your practice another Assassin arrived to inform you that an assembly had been called to begin in an hour.

“An assembly?” Desmond looked at you, puzzled.

“Basically an audience with the Council,” you explained. “There's all sorts of traditions and such involved. I've even get to wear my Assassin Robes. I haven't worn them for ages, I hope they still fit.”

“Sounds _really_ exciting,” Desmond joked. “What's the occasion?”

“I need to discuss the Apple with them. As I said to your father, if I'm here to help protect it I deserve to know what their plan with it is,” you replied.

Desmond made a noise of agreement before he continued to practice.

You watched him as he did, giving feedback when needed. After a while you checked your watch, sucking in a breath as saw you only had half an hour until you were needed. “Shit, I'll have to leave you to it. I've got to go and get ready.” You jogged out of the room and all the way up to your bedroom. You dug around in your bags to find your red and white robes, relieved when you saw they weren't creased and crumpled like you had feared they would be. Grabbing your toiletries bag and a towel you quickly dashed to the nearest bathroom so you could have a shower. You couldn't go before the Council all grimy from training.

You managed to shower and get your robes on in record time, ready with five minutes to spare.

“I'd forgotten how bloody uncomfortable these were,” you complained under your breath as you walked into the Sanctuary's main hall to wait until you were summoned.

“Oh, my God, look at you!” Rebecca cried out in glee as she saw you. “Des mentioned you were attending an assembly. I've got to get a picture of you all dressed up, you look so badass!”

“Shouldn't you be working, Becs?” you asked, grinning as she used her tablet to snap a couple of pictures.

“I'm allowed a lunch, right?” she smirked. “I haven't worn my robes since I was inducted into the Order. I looked ridiculous in them.”

“I don't know how anyone has managed to wear these for longer than an hour. They're so uncomfortable,” you griped.

“Smile!” Rebecca cheered as she snapped a photo of the two of you. “This is going to be my new desktop wallpaper.”

“Why would you do that?” you groaned good-naturedly, shaking your head fondly at Rebecca's cheery demeanour.

“Why not do it? Hey, Shaun seems a bit down today so I might make it his as well. You know, to cheer him up,” she winked.

“I'm glad you find our animosity towards each other amusing,” you chided, taking her hand squeezing it affectionately so she knew you were only teasing.

An Assassin standing by an ornately carved doorway called your name, drawing your attention. “They're ready for you.”

“Good luck,” Rebecca smiled. You smiled back, giving a small wave as you followed the Assassin into the Council Chambers.

The Chambers were even further underground, once serving as the original sanctuary before it was abandoned over two hundred years ago, the previous Luxembourg Brotherhood disbanding and spreading out across Europe for reasons the Assassin historians weren't entirely sure about. You admired the intricate decoration on the walls as you moved further into the Chamber, marvelling at how it had managed to stay in such a good condition over the years.

Reaching the middle of the Chamber you stopped, standing in front of where the Council members were all seated. Taking a deep breath, you hoped you would remember everything you had been taught as a child about the Brotherhood's traditions.

“Safety and peace, Masters,” you greeted, bowing your head respectfully.

“Safety and peace, Veteran,” they answered, bowing their heads back at you.

“I have requested an assembly today so that I may ask the Council what they plan to do with the Piece of Eden, known as the Apple, that was brought to the Sanctuary from New York,” you stated, meeting the gaze of each Council member in turn. “I believe I should be made aware of the Council's plans as Mentor Miles requested I join his team to aid with the protection of the artefact. If I am to protect it, I feel that should know it's future.”

No one said anything. The silence was unnerving. The five people in front of you had the power to strip you of your ranks, to cast you out of the Brotherhood if they so wished. You knew that William wouldn't let them do that just because you were asking for information; he wouldn't have agreed to call an assembly if he'd thought any part of your request was out of line. There was still a small part of your mind that was filled with worry, however.

After what felt like eternity, the Council began to confer amongst themselves. Your shoulders sagged in relief as you rolled your eyes closed briefly. They were discussing your request instead of denying it outright, surely that had to be a good thing? The sound of your name being spoken snapped your attention back to the seated figures.

“Your request has been considered. Your reasoning for wanting to know what the plans are for the artefact are sound, therefore we are in unanimous agreement that you are to be made aware of its future.” It was Henri Proulx who had spoken, a French Mentor.

“Thank you, Mentor Proulx,” you replied.

“The artefact will stay here permanently, under the protection of the Sanctuary,” Proulx continued.

You looked at him in disbelief, unsure if you'd heard him correctly. _The artefact would stay here? Surely not._ A glance at William's stony expression confirmed you had indeed heard correctly.

“I sense you are unhappy with this?” Another Mentor, Emma Phillips, spoke this time, eyeing your reaction.

“Yes, I am,” you answered simply. “I mean no disrespect to the Council but is the Sanctuary really the safest place for such an item?”

“Are you doubting that the Sanctuary is well protected? Doubting the skills of the Assassin's that call the Sanctuary home?” Phillips asked, her voice sharp.

“I am doing no such thing, Mentor Phillips. I find the Sanctuary's protection strong and the Assassin's here extremely skilled,” you replied, your eyes meeting hers and your face reflecting her determined expression. “However, for an artefact of such power and devastating capabilities I do not think it is enough. It's no secret the Templars seek an Apple of Eden, as well as many other Pieces. The Belgian Order have tried to find this Sanctuary before, and no doubt they will continue to try. It only takes one person to slip past our defences for us to become compromised.”

“We understand your concerns, Veteran, but I assure you the Sanctuary itself will be protection enough. Once Grand Master Cavendish has been assassinated, the threat from across the border will be lessened considerably,” Proulx insisted.

“I see. The Council is unanimous in this thought, I take it?” you said, looking directly at William.

“We are,” Phillips announced. You knew she was lying. William's expression confirmed your thoughts that he'd been outvoted on this matter.

“Very well. I would like it to go on record that, while I respect the decision made by the Council, I do not agree with it,” you declared. “Quite frankly, I find it ridiculous.” Phillips opened her mouth, likely to rebuke you for your comment, but Proulx held up his hand to stop her.

“Your comments have been noted, Veteran,” he said, inclining his head towards you. “Was there anything else you wished to discuss with us?”

“No,” you answered. “That was all.” You bowed your head again. “Thank you for your time Masters. Safety and peace.”

“Safety and peace,” the Council echoed. You began to walk back to the main hall but stopped and turned back to the seated Mentors.

“I sincerely hope this doesn't come back to bite us,” you commented, turning on your heel and walking away before anyone could say anything, frustration increasing with each step.

You pulled the door to the main hall open with more force than necessary, causing it to bang against the wall. The other Assassins milling about quickly darted out of your way as you stalked over to the room that Rebecca and Shaun were in.

“They're keeping it here!” you exclaimed as you walked in, pushing the heavy door shut behind you so you could have some privacy. “They seem to think the Apple is safe enough here, with a Templar controlled country right across the border.”

Rebecca looked up from what she was doing to the Animus. “The whole Council voted to keep it here?” Rebecca looked at you, confused. “I would have thought William would have wanted it moved.”

“Emma Phillips said they were all in agreement but I don't believe her. William certainly didn't look happy with their decision,” you griped, running your hands through your hair. “I can't believe they've done this! This place isn't safe enough for something that dangerous to be kept. They're putting us all at risk by doing so! We know the Templars have tried to locate this place in the past and they will more than likely try again and again. Even with Cavendish gone we'll still be a target for them, at least until we can gain a foothold in Belgium.” Rebecca and Shaun watched you pace around the room, your fists clenched as you continued. “If they find out what we've got here they're not going to rest until they've got it and destroyed us all in the process. This place is only secure enough to protect the Brothers and Sisters that are here, and they are only skilled enough to protect each other. Throw a Piece of Eden into the mix, and we're all fucked!” You were well aware you were ranting but you couldn't stop. It was like the Council didn't even _care_ about the risks. _They're supposed to be the best of the best_ , you cried internally. _How are they not seeing what I am?_ You tugged at the collar of your robes angrily. “Oh, my God, why are these things so _fucking uncomfortable?!_ ” you yelled, pulling the tunic up over your head leaving you standing there in only your bra, leggings and boots.

The room was silent, save for your ragged breathing.

“Do you think you should maybe calm down?” Shaun coughed, breaking the silence before going back to whatever he was reading.

You narrowed your eyes at him. “If you haven't got anything helpful to offer, then will you please just stop talking for once in your life?” you snarled, jerking the door open and storming out of the room, tunic still clenched in your hand.

*~*~*

Your mood didn't improve over the next few of days, but at least the Council weren't around to see it. Aside from William, who had remained behind, they'd each gone to meet with various teams across the world.. You didn't know why and, honestly, you didn't care. Your faith in the Council had been shaken. They were failing to see the dangers of having the Apple in the Sanctuary, seemingly more concerned with the simple fact that the Apple was in _their_ possession and not Abstergo's. You'd tried to talk to William about it but he refused to discuss the matter any further.

“You got your assembly and you got your answer. The matter is now closed,” he stated, his tone firm.

Rebecca and Desmond tried to make you feel better but to no avail. You trained harder than usual, hoping you would work your anger and irritation out that way. It helped somewhat, but you were still frustrated and on edge.

You were sparring with Desmond, poised ready for his attack. “What, are you waiting for an invite? Come _on_ , Des, let's go!”

Desmond wiped the back of his hand across his brow and fixed you with an annoyed stare. “Can't we stop for a minute? I'm exhausted!”

“Oh, I'm sorry, of course we can!” you shot back, voice full of sarcasm as you straightened up. “That is _exactly_ what will happen when we're fighting a group of Abstergo guards, you'll tell them you're tired and they'll give you five minutes to rest!” You pushed your hair out of your face in frustration and moved back into a defensive position. “They won't give you a break, so neither will I. Now _let's go!_ ”

Desmond groaned before taking a deep breath and readying himself to attack. You tuned everything out and focused on nothing but him.

He lunged forward, arm extended and hand balled up into a fist. You gave a sigh. His attacks were becoming predictable the more tired he became. You brought your arm up to block him, spinning him around and pinning his arm behind his back before kicking his legs out from underneath him, bringing him to his knees.

“Alright, we'll finish it there. You're becoming sloppy and there's really no point in carrying on when I can beat you this easily,” you conceded, letting go of his arm.

“Nice sparring, guys!” Rebecca called from the doorway as she entered the room. You turned towards her.

“Hey, Becs, how long have you been there?” you asked as you helped Desmond up.

“Only a few minutes. I've been sent to collect you. William wants to see us, get us all up to date with where everyone is on the Cavendish mission,” she replied, motioning for you and Desmond to follow her.

The three of you walked out of the room into the main hall, where Shaun was waiting. “About time you finished,” he sniffed as you approached.

“Oh, I know, I mean how _dare_ Desmond and I train for a dangerous mission so we won't get killed?” you snapped sarcastically. “How _dare_ we make precious Mr Hastings wait for two fucking minutes?” You had finally had enough. His constant comments, his snarky attitude and his habit of being a total _prick_ fraying your last nerve. “Why don't you just shut the hell up?!”

“That's rather pleasant conversation from our resident Veteran,” Shaun spat.

“Don't even start with me, you bastard!” you yelled back.

“You're the one that fucking started it!” Your faces were inches apart as you screamed at each other. Rebecca and Desmond were saying something, but you couldn't hear them. This had been building for weeks. You knew you weren't totally innocent in the whole thing. You could have ignored his comments, not made any of your own. Instead you'd met him for each and every one, making yourself angrier with him in the process. Now here you were, screaming in each others faces about how much you hated each other in the middle of the Sanctuary.

“ENOUGH!” William's bellowing voice snapped your attentions away from each other and you both took a step away, putting some distance between yourselves. “What the hell is wrong with the pair of you?”

You looked over at him, seeing that a crowd had gathered to watch your exchange. _Shit._

“Two grown adults acting like mindless children, one of them an experienced Veteran no less,” he continued. You cast your eyes down to the floor, ashamed. He was right.

“I'm sorry, Mentor,” you said, using his title out of respect.

“Sorry,” you heard Shaun mumble next to you.

“OK everyone, let's get moving. Nothing to see here,” Rebecca announced as she and Desmond ushered the other Assassins away so that just you, Shaun and William were left.

“I had hoped you two would work out this disagreement between yourselves but clearly it's just gotten worse,” William sighed. “You're just lucky the rest of the Council isn't here, otherwise I'd probably be forced to demote you a few ranks.”

You snapped your head up to look at him, eyes wide in worry.

“Doing that won't solve this issue. No, this calls for something drastic. There's only one way you two are going to stop with all of this childish bullshit.” William looked you in the eye before he continued. “Instead of Desmond being your partner when you assassinate Amelia Cavendish, Shaun will be.”

<><><>

**Shaun**

“Amelia Cavendish is one boring Grand Master,” Rebecca muttered as she read through the documents she had printed after managing to find what she was looking for. “Her schedule is the most unexciting thing I have ever read and I've read _Fifty Shades of Grey_.”

“Bloody hell, you actually read that?” Shaun asked, pulling a face.

“Someone lent it to me, saying how amazing it was. They lied,” she replied as she continued to read. “It seems that Cavendish spends most of her time at the headquarters in her office, doing all sorts of nefarious Templar business I imagine.”

“Probably kicking puppies,” Shaun commented.

Rebecca snorted. “God, Shaun, I had a mouthful of coffee!” She gave his shoulder a shove. “I'm going to go watch the training. Coming?”

“No, I'll pass. I've got a lot of work to get through, as do you,” Shaun replied, giving her a look.

Rebecca tutted. “Come on, I'm allowed a break, aren't I? I won't be long!”

“Slacker,” Shaun teased as she walked out.

“Asshole,” Rebecca called behind her. Shaun chuckled. He turned his attention back to the screen in front of him, reading through the information and picking out vital pieces that might be of use. He checked his watch after working through several pages.

“For God's sake, she's been gone for ages,” he grumbled, getting up out of his chair to find her. He stalked over to the training room, shaking his head at the gathering of Assassin's in the doorway. He spotted Rebecca by the front of the group.

“There you are, I thought you said you wouldn't be long?” he hissed as he reached her.

“I know, but this is awesome! No wonder she's chosen for high-risk missions,” Rebecca whispered, eyes wide as she watched Desmond and Crash. Shaun looked over at them to see what all the fuss was about. He had to admit she _was_ good, but her techniques were old and outdated. He was surprised she was still using them, and a little disappointed in her. He'd been shown them briefly during training sessions of his own back when he'd first become an Assassin, but had been trained in a more modern style of fighting.

“Alright, we've seen enough. Back to work,” Shaun muttered, tugging Rebecca's elbow.

“Aw, you're no fun!” Rebecca frowned, letting herself be led away.

<><><>

“What the hell was with the looks you were shooting me at training? Do you have a problem with the way I do things?”

Shaun groaned quietly, his shoulders tensing at the tone of her voice. They were back to this, then.

“You're just picking arguments with me now. If you want me to talk to you, all you need to do is ask nicely,” he sneered as he approached.

“Shut up and answer the question, and don't play stupid. You know full well what you were doing.”

Shaun had to stop himself from bursting into laughter at that. “'Play stupid', do you hear yourself? You are aware who you're talking to, right?”

“Yeah, I'm talking to a smug pain-in-the-arse who thinks he's the living embodiment of the bloody Renaissance and who is avoiding my question.”

The muscle in Shaun's jaw twitched at her insult. “Your techniques were outdated. I'm surprised someone as 'skilled and efficient' as yourself still uses them.” It was childish of him to feel pleased with the look on her face, he knew, but that didn't stop him.

“There's nothing wrong with those techniques! Anyway, if you'd bothered to stick around you'd have seen me use more recent ones. I feel Desmond should know as many as possible,” she shot back. “If you think you're so good at hand-to-hand combat, why don't you come down tomorrow and get in there with me yourself?” She leaned towards him, making him stiffen. “I promise I'll be gentle,” she purred.

Shaun sucked in a breath before storming into his room and slamming the door behind him. He paced about the room, rubbing a hand against his face. “What did I do in a past life to deserve this?” he muttered angrily.

He tugged his sweater off, tossing it away from him with more force than was necessary, before pulling at the buttons on his shirt. He sat on his bed with a book, shirtless and still in his jeans, hoping to calm himself before he got into bed. The muffled sounds of her filtering through the wall soon put paid to that. He tried to ignore it and concentrated on his book, but he couldn't block her out. Growling in irritation he stood up and walked over to the wall, ready to pound his fist on it in order to try and get her to be quiet.

“ _I think Alex has been stuck indoors for too long. Jack and Luis...neither of them would do that. It's just not them.”_ Her voice rang out clearly just as he was about to make his ire known and Shaun stilled, his body tense. His thoughts immediately went to the worst-case scenario; traitors in the Order. He stood and listened for a minute. _“Have you been up to anything else?”_

Shaun stepped away from the wall, the tension slipping away as he surmised that he'd got it wrong. _She was obviously talking about something else. I'm still on edge after what happened with Lucy. That's all._ He sat back on his bed and went back to reading, quickly forgetting about what he'd heard. It wasn't worth worrying about, after all.

<><><>

“Have you ever attended an assembly?”

Shaun looked up at Desmond as he walked in. “An assembly? Why do you ask?”

“Your favourite person is attending one later and I'm curious as to what actually happens in them,” Desmond said, leaning against the wall and rubbing his neck. “So far I'm liking them, because it means I get a break from getting beaten up. _Damn_ , she can fight.”

“I've never been to one myself, but I hear they can be quite tedious. A lot of talking and traditions to be observed,” Shaun told him. “They rarely happen these days. Why is she attending an assembly, anyway?”

“To find out what the Council plan to do with the Apple,” Desmond replied.

Shaun hummed. “Hopefully they'll be moving it somewhere away from here, somewhere that isn't as close to a Templar controlled country as we are.” He turned back to the stack of paper in front of him.

“Have you found out anything new about our target?” Desmond asked, looking Shaun's shoulder at what he was reading.

“A little bit. Here, read this,” Shaun said handing Desmond a file. He carried on looking over the paperwork in front of him as Desmond read the file, both of them silent in concentration.

Shaun's focus was soon interrupted by the need for something to eat. “I'm going to get some lunch. Did you want anything?”

“No thanks, I'm good,” Desmond mumbled, still engrossed in the file. Shaun closed his laptop and stood up, rolling his shoulders to work out the kinks that had developed from being hunched over his desk. He casually strolled out into the main hall, just in time to catch Crash walking away from Rebecca and through the doorway into the Council's chambers.

 _She looks good in those robes...wait, what?_ Shaun pressed his lips together, cursing his traitorous brain as he turned towards the exit and headed up into the manor. _OK brain, that's twice now you've done that. Stop it. She is not, I repeat NOT attractive._ He entered the kitchen and grabbed something to take back down with him so he could eat and work at the same time, grabbing something for Desmond as well as an afterthought, just in case. He quickly walked back down into the Sanctuary, not wanting to waste too much time. There was still a lot of planning to do.

“Here, I got you something anyway,” Shaun said, handing Desmond what he'd gotten for him. “I know what you're like.”

“Thanks, Shaun.” There was something about Desmond's reply that had Shaun looking at him suspiciously, like he was trying not to laugh at something. Shaun turned to Rebecca, who was sitting back at the Animus, and saw her hiding her mouth behind her hand, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

“What are you two hiding?” Shaun grilled.

“I don't know what you're talking about, Shaun.” Rebecca's voice was shrill, a giggle behind it. “We're not hiding anything!”

Shaun raised his eyebrow, not believing her in the slightest. “Right...” He sat down at his desk, opened his laptop and was greeted by Crash and Rebecca's grinning faces on his desktop.

“Oh, you're so bloody hilarious,” Shaun snapped, Rebecca and Desmond bursting into peals of laughter at his irate expression.

“I like to think so,” Rebecca snickered, wiping a tear from her eye. Shaun glowered at her. “Oh, come on, Shaun! Stop acting like I've done something horribly evil.”

Shaun shut his laptop firmly and picked up the file Desmond had been reading earlier, studiously ignoring them both. Rebecca sighed and turned her attention back to the Animus.

The room was mostly silent, the only sounds coming from where Rebecca was working, the occasional dull clang of metal on metal, and the other Assassins walking past the room.

“Well, this was fun, but I'm going to go and leave you two to your work. I need some rest. Thanks for lunch, Shaun,” Desmond announced as he stood up, breaking the tense silence.

“Later, Des,” Rebecca chirped. Shaun made a vague noise of acknowledgement at Desmond's leaving without looking up from the file in his hand.

“Are you going to ignore me all afternoon?” Rebecca asked Shaun as she carefully examined a circuit board.

“Yes,” was his simple reply.

“Finally! Some peace and quiet!” Rebecca joked, smiling sweetly at Shaun's frown. “I can't help but notice you haven't taken that picture down from your desktop. Is there something you want to tell me, Shaun?”

“You'll only change it again the second my back is turned, so I don't see the point,” he drawled. “I'm sure I can learn to live with it.”

“That's your story and you're sticking to it, huh?” she teased. “Not because you've secretly got a thing for her?”

Shaun spluttered in disbelief, about to ask Rebecca exactly how high she was right now, but a loud bang caught their attention.

“They're keeping it here!” Crash stormed into the room, her face expressive with displeasure as she forced the heavy door shut. “They seem to think the Apple is safe enough here, with a Templar controlled country right across the border.”

Shaun wasn't certain he'd heard her correctly until she began ranting and pacing around the room. He found himself agreeing with her when she said that the Sanctuary wasn't protection enough and the Assassin's here were not skilled enough to defend the Apple, although he didn't think she needed to be so melodramatic about it.

“Oh, my God, why are these things so _fucking uncomfortable?!_ ” she suddenly yelled, pulling her tunic off. She was breathing heavily, standing there in a state of undress.

Shaun shifted awkwardly in his seat, the sight of her uncovered making his gut clench in a way he _really_ didn't want it to. “Do you think you should maybe calm down?” he coughed, breaking the silence and choosing to ignore his body's reaction.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “If you haven't got anything helpful to offer, then will you please just stop talking for once in your life?” she snarled, before storming back out into the main hall.

“Jesus, Shaun, are you going out of your way to antagonise her now?” Rebecca chastised, her face a picture of annoyance.

“Oh, come on, she doesn't need to be so...theatrical about the whole situation!” Shaun argued, waving his hand in the direction she'd gone. “Yes, she's got some valid points, but there's no need for her to start stripping off in a rage.” _Especially when she looks like that_.

Rebecca rubbed her temples. “I swear to God, the way you two are...I worry that on of you is going to snap and kill the other in their sleep.”

“I'll be sure to lock my door from now on, to save you worrying,” Shaun vowed, ducking as Rebecca threw an oily rag at him.

<><><>

The next few days were fairly uneventful, at least for Shaun. The majority of the Council had left the Sanctuary to liaise with other Assassin teams who had been monitoring potential locations of other Pieces of Eden (hopefully _without_ intending to bring them back here to add to their collection, Shaun hoped), leaving William behind to keep an eye on things. Shaun spent the majority of his time with Rebecca, the pair of them trawling Absergo's data banks for anything that would prove useful to the Assassin's fight against them, just like old times. He didn't see much of Desmond, his time taken up by the increased training Crash had him doing. She had been in a foul mood ever since the assembly, even with Rebecca and Desmond's attempts at cheering her up. One good thing to come from her aggravation, at least from Shaun's viewpoint, was that she was keeping well away from him.

“You haven't been to watch them spar _again?_ ” Shaun sighed, turning to see Rebecca walk over to her desk. “Surely seeing Desmond get his arse kicked gets old after a while?”

“Hey, he's not _that_ bad. His hand-to-hand has improved since we got here...but he did get thrown about a lot today. All that anger she's got over this Apple issue is coming through in her combat techniques,” Rebecca babbled.

“Sounds like she needs to do some more yoga,” Shaun muttered. Rebecca hummed in agreement. They worked in a companionable silence, only stopping when William entered the room.

“Meeting in five minutes in the Council Chambers. I want to know where we all are regarding the Cavendish mission,” he stated before walking back out.

“I'll get the guys,” Rebecca announced, following William out of the room. “Meet you in the main hall?”

Shaun nodded. “Sure. I'll get everything together and be there in a minute.” He sifted through the documents that littered his desk, picking out the important ones to take with him before he strolled out into the main hall. He leaned against the doorway to the Chambers as he waited.

He was there for longer than he'd expected to be, frowning as he looked at his watch. _Bloody hell, Rebecca, how long does it take to tell them they're needed?_ He was debating whether to go looking for them himself when they appeared, Desmond looking positively worn out as they ambled over.

“About time you finished,” Shaun sniffed. As soon as the words left his mouth, Crash turned to him, her eyes blazing in fury.

“Oh, I know, I mean how _dare_ Desmond and I train for a dangerous mission so we won't get killed?” she snapped. “How _dare_ we make precious Mr Hastings wait for two fucking minutes? Why don't you just shut the hell up?!”

Shaun flinched at her tone. “That's rather pleasant conversation from our resident Veteran,” he spat.

“Don't even start with me, you bastard!” she yelled back at him.

“You're the one that fucking started it!” Shaun was livid. Who the hell did she think she was, speaking to him like that? He was vaguely aware that Rebecca and Desmond were trying to calm them down but he was too focused on her face, inches apart from his as they yelled. Part of Shaun had always known it would come to this eventually. He supposed he was just as much to blame as she was, they had both been sniping at each other ever since they'd met and that had now turned into them having a screaming match in full view of everyone in the Sanctuary.

“ENOUGH!” William's bellowing voice caught Shaun's attention and he stepped away from her, breathing heavily through his nose. “What the hell is wrong with the pair of you? Two grown adults acting like mindless children, one of them an experienced Veteran no less.”

Shaun rubbed the back of his neck and looked towards the ceiling, too embarrassed to look anywhere else.

“I'm sorry, Mentor,” she said.

“Sorry,” Shaun mumbled, casting a quick glance at William. He was _definitely_ not happy with the two of them.

“OK everyone, let's get moving. Nothing to see here.” Rebecca's voice rang out through the silence as she and Desmond herded everyone out of the hall.

“I had hoped you two would work out this disagreement between yourselves but clearly it's just gotten worse,” William sighed when it was just the three of them left. “You're just lucky the rest of the Council isn't here, otherwise I'd probably be forced to demote you a few ranks.”

Shaun felt a little guilty at that. He didn't particularly care what his rank was, it didn't really make a difference to him as he wasn't out in the field, but he guessed that ranking was something that really mattered to Crash considering she was born and raised within the order.

“Doing that won't solve this issue. No, this calls for something drastic. There's only one way you two are going to stop with all of this childish bullshit.” William continued, looking Crash straight in the eye. “Instead of Desmond being your partner when you assassinate Amelia Cavendish, Shaun will be.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The detonating Hidden Blade was taken from the AC Wiki - http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Hidden_Blade


	6. Making Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made for your new mission partner and an unwelcome memory rears its head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have taken a LOT of artistic license with the town they're in. I've never been there before and I couldn't find a lot of information online, so I embellished a little XD

_**April 10** _ _**th** _ _**, 2003** _

_It's raining again (typical British weather), but that doesn't mean Mum is giving me a break on my training. I thought she’d ease off and relax now we’re living somewhere permanent, but no such luck._

_She hasn’t been the same since Dad-_

_OK, breathe. I'm fine, I'm safe._

_Damn._

_The panic attacks aren’t happening as often these days, which is good, but there’s no telling what might cause one. For instance, sometimes I can think about Dad and feel fine, remembering the fun we used to have before everything happened, but sometimes I only need to think about his name and everything rushes back and I feel like I’m drowning, like they’re coming after me again and there’s no escape._

_It’d been about a year since The Great Purge when one happened for the first time. I’d woken up screaming after finally falling asleep for the first time in two days. Hardly surprising that they started, really. I was only thirteen and I’d been through a lot over those last twelve months; running from Templars who wanted me and everyone I knew dead, seeing my father shot dead in front of me._

_Killing someone for the first time._

_If I hadn’t done it, I’d be dead myself, but I really wish I hadn’t had to do it. We’re usually prepared for the first kill, not performing it until after our official initiation at eighteen should we choose to join the Order. It’s not supposed to be the desperate act of a twelve year old._

_I don’t want to think about that any more._

_Anyway...Mum. She's not really much like a mother to me these days. Admittedly she was never one for showing any sort of affection to me but now it's like...I don't know. Like she's a mentor instead. I honestly wonder sometimes whether she sees me as her daughter at all._

_She's knocking on my door now, telling me to hurry up because Tom’s waiting for me. Lucky me._

_Tom was part of the group we joined with last year when we settled here. He’s eighteen and was recently initiated into the Order. He's nice enough and I’m well aware how he feels about me. He can try and pretend the reason he wants to help with my training because he's the closest to my age out of everyone here, but he's not as enigmatic as he thinks. He’s kind of good looking, I suppose, but if he’s expecting anything to happen, he’s mistaken. I saw what happened to Mum when she lost Dad. I’m not going to let that happen to me. Stick to friendships. Forget falling in love, it’s not worth the pain. It’ll be much easier this way._

*~*~*

Had you heard him right? He was going to make you partner up with _Shaun_? Shaun, who probably hadn’t been in the field since he was initiated, who spent most of his time behind a desk? A glance at Shaun himself confirmed you hadn’t misheard William, his expression one of shock and disbelief, much like yours.

You cleared your throat, bringing William's attention to you before you spoke. “Let me get this straight; you want _Shaun_ to partner me on this vital and potentially dangerous mission? After I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working with Desmond, you want an Assassin Historian who probably hasn’t even _trained_ in the last year, let alone undertaken anything like this before, to partner me? William, no offence, but have you been at Rebecca’s ‘special brownies’?”

“I have had enough of you two snapping at each other. You are meant to be a team and you can't even be goddamn civil to one another!” William ran a hand through his hair in frustration, taking a moment before continuing. “Putting the two of you together for this mission will lead to a mutual respect between the two of you at the very least.” He stepped away towards the doorway to the Council Chambers. “Grab Desmond and Rebecca. We’ll have that meeting in two minutes.” He disappeared through the door, it closing heavily behind him, leaving only you and Shaun in the hall.

“Fuck,” you declared, breaking the silence.

“You said it,” Shaun responded.

“I’ll go and find Des and Becs,” you mumbled, not bothering to wait for a response before you headed out of the hall towards the staircase leading up into the main area of the manor.

This was just _great_. You were being sent out on a mission that you’d already had a problem with once, and with _Shaun_ as your partner.

_I suppose William_ _ **might**_ _have a point_ , you grudgingly admitted to yourself. The pair of you would be forced to work closely together for this mission to be a success, and you couldn't spend that time arguing or getting at each other, potentially leading to at least civility between the two of you.

Even with that, it was still a big risk to take. Partners on missions were responsible for each other, they watched each others backs. Assassins were taught that the safety of their partner was paramount; if you had to die to save them, you did. With each of you having that mindset, it was much more likely you would both survive. How would that work between you and Shaun? Whilst you were certain neither of you would let the other deliberately come to harm, no matter your feelings towards one another, you wondered: would you unconsciously put yourself first?

“So...how pissed was Dad at you two?” Desmond's voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You'd been so lost in them, you'd walked up into the manor without really noticing.

“You'll get to see for yourself. We're still needed in the Council Chambers,” you replied.

“That bad, huh?” Desmond clapped a hand on your shoulder, squeezing gently as if to comfort you. He called over to Rebecca, motioning for her to follow. She jogged over to catch you both up.

“What did he say?” she asked as the three of you walked. You just shrugged your shoulders.

“You heard most of it. I felt like I was being told off by a parent, the way he was going on,” you sighed.

“Sounds like Dad. He's always been like that,” Desmond chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “It could have been worse.” He pushed the door open to the Chambers and held it open for yourself and Rebecca.

“Oh, it got worse.” You gave a humourless laugh at Desmond's puzzled expression. “You'll see.”

You headed on down into the Chamber with Rebecca and Desmond following you, whispering to each other as they wondered what you had meant.

William was glancing over various documents that were scattered about a small table that hadn't been there during your assembly. Shaun was standing opposite him, arms crossed like a petulant child and a frown firmly on his face. You'd have laughed if the atmosphere wasn't so tense.

“Good, you're all here.” William turned to look at you all as you came and stood around the table. Desmond looked at you warily as you stood next to Shaun, like he expected one of you to suddenly start attacking the other.

“Let's get started.” Everyone's attention turned to William as his authoritative tone echoed around the room. “We've got more to get through than I'd anticipated, due to the change of plans.”

“That sounds ominous,” Desmond muttered, giving a grin. His grin soon faded when he saw the seriousness of William's expression. “I guess now isn't the time to make jokes. Sorry, Dad. What's the change of plans?”

William cleared his throat before speaking. “You won't be heading to Belgium any more. Shaun's taking your place.”

“ _What?_ Are you serious?” Rebecca blurted out before William could continue. “Shaun's no field agent! I've seen him get stuck in one of his _sweaters_ before!”

“I am _right here_ ,” Shaun grumbled, his cheeks turning ever so slightly pink. You couldn't help but smirk a little at that image.

“You can't send Shaun, he's not trained for that kind of stuff!” Rebecca carried on as if Shaun hadn't spoken, bringing you back to the matter at hand. “Why are you even sending him?” Her brow was creased in worry, and you couldn't blame her. She'd told you herself Shaun was one of her closest friends; of course she'd be worried about him. You'd feel the same if Ilana was suddenly sent on a dangerous mission, her expertise lying in much the same area as Rebecca’s.

“Because those two need to learn to respect each other, and this is the only way that is going to happen,” William said, gesturing to where you are and Shaun stood.

“Can you please stop talking about us as if we're not in the room?” you complained. “I'm not thrilled with this decision, either, Becs. I've spent so much of my time training Des up for this mission, only for it all to be wasted!”

“It's not going to be wasted. It's not like I'm never going to use what you've taught me. There will be more Templars to take down, so helping me improve my skills wasn't a bad thing,” Desmond insisted.

“You're missing the point, Des. To get Shaun up to the standard needed it'll take weeks, if not months, and that's just time we don't have.” You turned to look at William. “William, are you really willing to put the mission in jeopardy just because Shaun and I had a disagreement?”

“You two have been driving me mad with this...petty dislike you have for each other,” William sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is the only way that you two are going to get over it, and you know I'm right.”

You and Shaun looked at each other. He was still pouting, and all you wanted to do was smack him in the jaw to get that _goddamn_ stupid look off of his face.

_I take back what I thought earlier: William_ _**definitely** _ _has a point._

“Alright,” you conceded, pushing your hair out of your face. “How are we going to do this? There's a lot of training and preparation to do and not a huge amount of time to do it in. Where do we start? He can't start his combat training with me.”

“Too good to do it yourself, are you?” Shaun muttered under his breath, but not quiet enough for you to miss.

“Yes, actually, but not in the way you're suggesting,” you retorted. “Your skills are lacking and I don't go easy when sparring, as Des will quite readily tell you. You won't be much use to me if I've gone and broken your arm in three places because you don't know the correct technique for blocking my attack.” That shut him up.

“She's got a point, man,” Desmond agreed.

“Fine, point taken,” Shaun huffed, throwing his hands up mock surrender. “So where _do_ we start?”

“We've managed to get hold of some information regarding Abstergo Entertainment and how they're using their employees to go through other people's genetic memories via an Animus,” William said, opening a file and laying it out on the table. “Rebecca, I need you to make these changes to your Animus. We can look at reusing Desmond's memories of Ezio and the bleeding effect to help with Shaun's training-”

“No.” The word was out of your mouth before you'd realised. Everyone turned to look at you, varying degrees of surprise on their faces.

“No?” William peered at you curiously.

“Ilana found the files Abstergo had on Clay Kaczmarek...about what the Animus did to him. He couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't thanks to the bleeding effect. I'm sorry, but I don't think it's worth the risk.” You remembered what you had read, about how Clay had gone on to end his life , no longer able to deal with it all. It had haunted you for days.

“That won't happen,” Rebecca promised. “Des was trained in the same way, and he's fine because I monitored him carefully and he was never in there for too long. I'll do exactly the same with Shaun.”

Your eyes flicked over to Desmond, looking for confirmation. He nodded. You knew he'd been in the Animus, of course, but you'd always assumed that anything he'd learnt whilst in there was just a side effect; no one had ever mentioned he'd been put in there with the intention of _using_ the bleeding effect.

You could feel a headache coming on as you rubbed at your eyes. “If he's going in that thing, I have the say on when he comes out. Are we clear?”

“Whatever you say,” Rebecca agreed.

“Never knew you cared,” Shaun mumbled, but there was no sarcasm or mocking behind his words as he stared at his feet.

You shrugged. “I wouldn't wish what happened to Clay on anyone.”

No one spoke for a moment, the atmosphere sombre.

“When Shaun isn't in the Animus, I'll work with him on what he's learned,” William said, breaking the silence. “Desmond, you'll work on with him on his agility and freerunning.”

“I can go through some basic firearm training with him,” you put in. “I don't know a huge amount, I admit, but I know enough.”

“Great, we've got a plan together.” William clapped his hands together and turned to Rebecca. “Can you get started on making the updates to the Animus?”

“Sure thing, Mr Miles,” Rebecca grinned, giving a mock salute before grabbing the schematics and heading out of the Chambers.

“Shaun, you and Desmond can head on out too, maybe make a start on something that'll help with your agility training,” William suggested. Shaun nodded and, with a final glance at you, walked towards the doorway with Desmond.

You waited until it was just you and William left in the Chamber before you spoke. “Do you honestly think Shaun is up to this?”

“I do. He's not ready now, I agree, but he will be,” William confessed. “You know, the two of you have more in common than you realise. You'll work very well together.”

“I hope you're right, William. There's a lot at stake here,” you sighed, a dull ache behind your eyes. “So, what information do we have so far?”

*~*~*

The meeting went on longer than you had expected, meaning you had missed dinner, but you and William had covered a lot of ground regarding Amelia Cavendish. She was a creature of habit but heavily guarded, no doubt a reaction to your attempt on her life back in New York. You scowled at the memory as you made your way towards the kitchen, still annoyed with yourself that you had failed.

‘ _Alex thinks you were set up.’_ Ilana’s voice sounded in your head, stopping you in your tracks. You physically shook yourself to remove the thought. _Alex is wrong. There's no way Jack or Luis would turn rogue....right?_

“You OK?”

You jumped at the voice, and it took a moment for you to register Shaun standing in front of you.

“What? Oh, yeah, sorry. I just...it’s nothing,” you replied, clearing your throat. “Did you need something?”

Shaun hummed. “Rebecca was looking for you. She didn't tell me why, but she's in the courtyard.”

“Alright, thanks.” You gave him a nod before walking past him towards the hallway leading to the courtyard.

_That's the first time we've been civil to one another,_ you mused, pushing the door open to be greeted by the biting night air, making you wish you were wearing something more appropriate. Leggings and a tank top were great for training but for being outside in the middle of January, not so much. You spotted Rebecca sitting on a bench, smoking something you were certain wasn't one hundred percent legal in Luxembourg.

“Hey, you and Bill were at it for ages,” she said as you sat down next to her. “Make any progress?”

“Yeah, actually, we got through quite a lot. I should be able to come up with a plan soon,” you sighed, wrapping your arms around yourself to stave off the chill. “How about you? Is Baby all upgraded and ready to go?”

“Hell yeah she is!” Rebecca whooped excitedly. “Can not wait to see how it all works.”

You laughed fondly at her enthusiasm. “I thought it would be finished. Why else would you be out here celebrating with that?” you smiled, gesturing at the cigarette in her hand.

“I've ran out of brownies,” she shrugged before taking a drag. “The chef here is a real hard-ass, he won't let me make any.”

“Anyone would think you're wanting to bring narcotics into his kitchen,” you scoffed, your voice full of sarcasm.

“Ah, shut up,” Rebecca grumbled, giving you a playful nudge with her shoulder. “You sound just like Shaun.”

“That was uncalled for,” you gasped, putting on your best offended face. Rebecca snorted, grinning. “Speaking of him, he said you were looking for me?”

“I just wanted to see how you were,” she asked. “I'm guessing Bill's changes may have riled you up a little.”

“You're sweet to ask,” you hummed, touched by her concern. You fiddled with the hem of your tank top. “I won't lie, it's pissed me off. However, I can see why he's done it, and he's completely justified in his actions. Shaun and I are constantly at each other's throats and, like he said, it's at a point now where something this extreme is the only solution.”

Rebecca blew a puff of smoke from between her lips and stubbed her cigarette out. “You'll look after him, won't you?” she whispered, turning to you with worried eyes.

You squeezed her hand. “Of course I will, but with the training plan William's put in place I don't think I'll need to.”

“I hope so.” She rested her head on your shoulder and yawned. “I'm tired.”

You giggled. “Maybe you should head up to bed.” You stood up and held your hand out to her. “Come on. I'll walk you back to your room before I go out to find a pizza place or something. I'm starving.”

Rebecca seemed to perk up at the mention of food. “Pizza? I could eat pizza. I know a place we can go to! Ooh, and they make some amazing mozzarella sticks, let's get those too!” She jumped up from the bench and took hold of your outstretched hand, tugging you along with such eagerness you stumbled along behind her.

“Wait, can I at least grab my jacket? Becs!”

*~*~*

“ _Mum?” You could have sworn she was just next to you, but reaching out a hand all you grasp is air. “Mum!”_

_Smoke is filling the building, obscuring your vision but you hear her call out your name. She sounds panicked. Is she panicking because she can't see you? Or is she in trouble?_

_Gunfire sounds from somewhere behind you, followed by an agonising cry. Abstergo agent or Assassin?_

“ _Grab his gun. We'll use their own weapons against them.” Abstergo agent, then._

_You try using your Eagle Vision to see better but you're still learning how to properly utilise it, and in your terrified state you can't make it work properly._

_The smoke is burning your throat with each gasp of air into your lungs. It's stinging your eyes. You'd all awoken thinking there was a fire but it turned out to be an ambush, the Templars somehow learning of your current location._

_You need to move, standing in one place is making you an easy target, but where is safe to go? You chance stepping backwards, towards the voice of the Assassin you heard a moment ago, one of your throwing knives clutched tightly in your hand._

“ _Who have we got here, then?”_

_You scream as hands roughly grab at you. You hadn't heard them coming in the surrounding commotion. “Another child? This'll be easy.”_

“ _NO, LET ME GO!” you screech as loud as you can. The agent leers at you, his helmet absent. His eyes are cold, haunting._

“ _No one's coming to save you,” he hisses. A burst of gunfire catches his attention and he looks over in the direction of the sound. You seize your chance at escape and kick him in the shin as hard as you can. He grunts, his grip on you loosening just enough for you to free yourself._

“ _Get back here, you little bitch!” he yells, coming after you._

_You stumble through the thick smoke in an attempt to find an exit, to find someone who can help. Your foot catches on something and you stumble to the hard ground, falling painfully on your knees, your knife clattering out of your palm._

“ _Got you!” The agent is on you in seconds, pinning you roughly underneath him. “You'll pay for that little stunt.”_

_His hands grip your throat and start to tighten. His face swims in and out of focus as you claw at him with one hand, your other frantically grasping around for your dropped knife. Your fingers come into contact with the cool metal of the handle and, with a burst of adrenaline, you bring it up and jam it into the agent's neck, stabbing again and again until his screams stop and he falls heavily onto you._

“ _Help me,” you rasp out, tears spilling down your cheeks. “Help me…”_

_*~*~*_

You shot upright, panicking as you looked around. Your chest was heaving, your breath coming in ragged pants. It took you a minute to remember where you were; you were in bed, in the your room at the Luxembourg Sanctuary. You were safe.

“Fuck...fuck! Not again,” you choked out, trembling fiercely.

A noise came from underneath your pillow. Your cellphone was ringing. You fumbled around for it, checked the caller ID and took a few deep breaths before answering. “Alex?”

“Hey, I-woah, what’s wrong?” Alex started, his tone changing from casual to concerned as he registered your shaky voice.

“Nothing. I-I’m fine,” you lied.

“No, you’re not. I know you, I know when you’re lying,” he insisted. Come on, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“I had the nightmare again,” you mumbled, breathing deeply to stop from crying.

“Shit, are you OK?” he asked. You'd had to tell him about your recurring nightmare shortly after you'd met, when he'd been woken up by your frantic begging for help in your sleep. Your old team knew you'd suffered during the Great Purge, but you'd never shared with anyone aside from your Mentor the full horror of your experience. Even Alex wasn't aware that your nightmare was actually a memory, or even about its full content. You weren't completely comfortable with other people knowing about it, even now, twelve years later.

“Not really, but I’ll be fine,” you admitted.

He sighed. “Do you want to talk about it this time?”

“No, I'd rather just talk about something else,” you insisted.

Alex huffed, clearly unconvinced. “Well...if you're sure. You know you can call me any time if you change your mind, right? You shouldn’t keep stuff bottled up.”

“I know,” you sighed. “Anyway, how have you been? I spoke to Ilana last week, she mentioned you were monitoring suspected Templar activity in the city?”

“Yeah, we've got a good lead on a Master Templar in Brooklyn. A couple of weeks and hopefully I'll be all set to take him out,” Alex replied. You heard him groan, more than likely from him stretching out. “Man, I'm getting old.”

“How old are you now, fifty?” you teased, feeling the tension dissipate from your body. You missed Alex, he was like the older brother you'd never had

“Oh, ha ha. I'm forty-three, you know that.” Alex chuckled, a deep sound that enveloped you in warmth.

“I was close,” you smirked. “So. You must have called me for a reason at...almost 3AM for you.”

“I need to ask you something, and I needed to wait until everyone else was asleep before I called,” Alex sighed.

“What’s so important and confidential that it couldn’t wait?”

“When you were here did you ever notice anything...unusual about Luis or Jack?”

“Oh, Alex, not this,” you groaned, resting your forehead in your free hand. “I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop! I wasn't set up, I simply made a mistake, OK? Ilana agrees with me so why can't you?”

“Because you don't make mistakes!” he snapped. “You're one of the best we have in the order! The whole damn thing makes less and less sense the more I think about it!”

“Then maybe you should stop thinking about it?” you retorted. “Look, to answer your question, no, I never noticed anything unusual about them. OK? So please, just _stop_ with this.”

“I'm sorry, but I can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong,” he protested.

You sighed, knowing you'd never be able convince him otherwise, at least not now. “Fine. I just want to go on record saying I don't agree with you on this. I'm sorry, Alex.”

“I'm going to keep digging, I know I'll find something,” Alex said with conviction, as if you hadn't said anything. “I'll let you know what I find out.”

“Fine, whatever,” you said, rolling your eyes. “I'm going to go, you should get some sleep.”

You and Alex said your goodbyes and you ended the call, worrying about him and his paranoia. Rubbing your hands over your face you sighed, wishing you had managed to talk some sense into him. You checked your watch. _I should probably get out of bed_. You stretched and yawned widely, working out a kink in your neck that had developed after your restless sleep. Alex was right, you shouldn’t keep everything bottled up, but you just didn’t trust anyone enough to tell them, even him and Ilana, the two people you considered more like family than anyone else. Maybe one day there would be someone you could open up to, but right now, there wasn’t. You were just going to have to continue to deal with it yourself.

*~*~*

You headed out into the town an hour or so later, this time appropriately dressed for the weather. You'd overheard some of the other Assassins talking about a good freerunning course nearby and you wanted to check it out, hoping it might prove useful for Desmond and Shaun.

Harlange was a small town not too far from the Belgian border, around a third of its small population consisting of Assassins and their families. It was one of the few places in the world an Assassin wouldn't need to hide who they were, and Assassins were greatly respected here, but it hadn't always been like this. Before the Great Purge there were only a small number of Assassins that resided in the town, those who were descended from the members of the original Luxembourg Brotherhood that hadn't left the country after their Order disbanded, and they had stayed hidden. The only reason Harlange had survived the Purge was solely because the Templars were unaware of the Order's presence in the town, unaware of the Sanctuary that hid beneath the ground under the unremarkable old manor that stood by the town's playing field. It was the perfect place to rebuild the Order and to establish a new council. The locals were more than happy to have the Order in their midst, having grown up with stories of the ancient society that fought to keep humanity free.

Eventually the Templars had caught wind of potential Assassin activity in the town but they could never get close enough to prove it and remained unaware of the true strength the Order held in Harlange, or indeed in all of Luxembourg, an illusion that everyone fought to maintain.

The streets were fairly quiet, a few people here and there going about their daily lives. Occasionally you would see someone you recognised from the Sanctuary, nodding at them in greeting. You walked past the pizza place you and Rebecca had gone to the night before and wondered if you should go in and apologise again for Rebecca trying to sneak past them into their kitchen. Luckily they'd found it amusing; apparently she had tried to do it before.

After walking for a few more minutes you reached the course. It was just on the outskirts of the town and already a few of your Assassin brothers and sisters were using it. One of them, a young Novice named Béatrice, waved eagerly at you.

“ _Bonjour, Vétéran!_ ” she called.

“ _Salut_ , Béatrice,” you said as you returned her smile. Béatrice had recently been initiated as an Assassin on her eighteenth birthday. She hadn't been born into the Order, but had witnessed the growth of it as she grew up. She believed in what the Assassins fought for and wanted to help. She was mostly self-taught in her combat and stealth techniques, impressing the Council enough for them to recruit her, but she still had a lot to learn.

“Have you come to observe us, _Vétéran_?” she asked as you approached.

“Not today, I merely wished to see the location,” you replied. “I have heard good things about it.”

“ _Oui_ , it is a good place to practice,” Béatrice agreed.

It certainly seemed to be quite impressive. A number of skills would be needed to complete the course, making it useful for training purposes. You watched as one Assassin leapt into a waiting hay cart a few metres in front of you and Béatrice.

“Are you going to run the course yourself?” Béatrice asked.

You shrugged your shoulders. “I may do. I’d get a better idea of whether the course is suitable for what I need it for if I did, but I haven’t done any freerunning for a while.”

“Oh, then you _must_ run!” Béatrice insisted. “Surely it cannot be good to go too long without practicing?”

You pondered her words for a moment. She was right, it wouldn’t do for you to be anything less than your best, especially with the mission coming up. “You have a point, Béatrice...yeah, I think I will run the course.”

Béatrice grinned widely as you headed over to the starting point. _I hope I’m not too out of practice_ , you thought as you stretched your arms above your head, Béatrice watching you eagerly. _No pressure, then._

Taking a deep breath, you ran forward towards the first obstacle, a large wall with only a few small gaps to grasp as you climbed. You pulled yourself up onto the top and leapt across to the rooftop in front of you swiftly, the wind in your hair bringing a smile to your face. Freerunning wasn't something you'd been able to do a lot of back in New York and you'd missed it. It was a different feeling to just running on the ground; that just reminded you of the times you'd had to run from those chasing you. Climbing buildings and sprinting across rooftops was exhilarating. It was just you and the birds against the wind.

Approaching the end of the course you grinned, eager to perform the Leap of Faith. It wasn't a move that was often used by Assassins these days, most of the Order only performing it once in their lifetime when they were initiated. You yourself hadn't done one for a few years, but you remembered clearly the exhilarating feeling of your first leap.

Without hesitation you leapt, your arms outstretched as you spun forwards before landing on your back in the cart. You jumped from the cart, pulling hay from your hair as you headed over to Béatrice.

“That was amazing!” she squealed excitedly. You chuckled.

“It wasn’t _that_ good,” you said, rolling your eyes and grinning bashfully. Your legs were aching from the run, protesting the lack of a warm up. _I'll pay for that later,_ you thought as you stretched. A growl from your stomach signalled it was probably time to head back to the Sanctuary for lunch, especially as you'd forgone any breakfast. Bidding goodbye to Béatrice, you began to make your way back into town.

<><><>

**Shaun**

_He's gone mad. The old bastard has gone mad._

Shaun's mind was racing as he tried to process what William had said. He wanted Shaun to replace Desmond on the mission? No, that couldn't be right.

“William, no offence, but have you been at Rebecca’s ‘special brownies’?” Crash asked.

Shaun was beginning to wonder that himself. It seemed the only logical explanation to William's bright idea.

“I have had enough of you two snapping at each other. You are meant to be a team and you can't even be goddamn civil to one another!” William barked. “Putting the two of you together for this mission will lead to a mutual respect between the two of you at the very least.” He tugged open the door to the Council Chambers. “Grab Desmond and Rebecca. We’ll have that meeting in two minutes.” The door closed heavily behind him, echoing in the silence.

“Fuck,” Crash’s voice rang out. Shaun turned to look at her. She was staring at the ceiling, hands on her hips.

“You said it,” Shaun responded.

“I’ll go and find Des and Becs.” She walked out of the hall without a glance backwards. Shaun watched her leave before following William into the Chambers, jogging to catch up with him.

“Bill, you’ve got to be kidding with this. I’m not a field agent!” Shaun babbled. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to make me go on this thing?”

William didn’t look up from the paper he was studying. “My decision is final, Shaun.”

“You’re going to send me out with her, putting this mission we’ve put so much work into at risk, just so we’ll get along? Surely there are other ways to do that?”

“If I didn’t think you could do this, I wouldn’t even consider it. I’d find another way to make you two behave like adults, but I _do_ think you can do this, you just need training,” William affirmed, looking Shaun in the eye. “The bond that develops between partners is a strong one. After this, you two just might end up being closer than you and Rebecca are.”

Shaun snorted as William went back to glancing over paperwork. _I doubt that_ _ **very**_ _much._ He crossed his arms over his chest as Desmond, Rebecca and Crash entered the Chamber and made their way over.

“Good, you're all here,” William said, looking up. “Let's get started. We've got more to get through than I'd anticipated, due to the change of plans.”

“That sounds ominous,” Desmond grinned. William didn’t look impressed, giving Desmond a no-nonsense stare. Desmond coughed. “I guess now isn't the time to make jokes. Sorry, Dad. What's the change of plans?”

“You won't be heading to Belgium any more. Shaun's taking your place.”

Shaun could almost _feel_ the disbelief radiating from Desmond and Rebecca.

“ _What?_ Are you serious?” Rebecca blurted. “Shaun's no field agent! I've seen him get stuck in one of his _sweaters_ before!”

_Bloody hell, that happened_ _ **once**_. “I am _right here_ ,” Shaun grumbled, feeling his face heat up.

“You can't send Shaun, he's not trained for that kind of stuff! Why are you even sending him?” she argued.

“Because those two need to learn to respect each other, and this is the only way that is going to happen,” William replied.

“Can you please stop talking about us as if we're not in the room?” Crash interrupted, glowering. She turned to Rebecca. “I'm not thrilled with this decision, either, Becs. I've spent so much of my time training Des up for this mission, only for it all to be wasted!

“It's not going to be wasted. It's not like I'm never going to use what you've taught me. There will be more Templars to take down, so helping me improve my skills wasn't a bad thing,” Desmond insisted.

Crash huffed, hands on her hips. “You're missing the point, Des. To get Shaun up to the standard needed it'll take weeks, if not months, and that's just time we don't have.” She rubbed the back of her neck as if she was working out tension. “William, are you really willing to put the mission in jeopardy just because Shaun and I had a disagreement?”

William gave an annoyed sigh before speaking. “You two have been driving me mad with this...petty dislike you have for each other, this is the only way that you two are going to get over it, and you know I'm right.”

Shaun looked at Crash and she met his gaze. She didn’t look happy, but Shaun wasn’t sure she _ever_ looked happy in his presence. The thought annoyed him more than he would have liked, but he pushed it aside.

“Alright,” she conceded, pushing her hair out of her face. “How are we going to do this? There's a lot of training and preparation to do and not a huge amount of time to do it in. Where do we start? He can't start his combat training with me.”

Shaun couldn’t help himself. “Too good to do it yourself, are you?”

“Yes, actually, but not in the way you're suggesting,” she barked. “Your skills are lacking and I don't go easy when sparring, as Des will quite readily tell you. You won't be much use to me if I've gone and broken your arm in three places because you don't know the correct technique for blocking my attack.”

Shaun felt the muscle in his jaw twitch as he gritted his teeth. _How the bloody hell am I going to cope working with her?_

“She's got a point, man,” Desmond agreed.

“Fine, point taken,” Shaun huffed, throwing his hands up mock surrender. “So where _do_ we start?”

William picked up one of the files that were spread out in front of him and rifled through the papers until he found what he needed, laying the documents on the table for everyone to see.

“We've managed to get hold of some information regarding Abstergo Entertainment and how they're using their employees to go through other people's genetic memories via an Animus,” William announced. “Rebecca, I need you to make these changes to your Animus. We can look at reusing Desmond's memories of Ezio and the bleeding effect to help with Shaun's training-”

“No.”

Shaun turned to look at Crash, surprised at her outburst. She looked surprised herself.

“No?” William was looking at her curiously. Shaun stared at her, waiting to hear why she was objecting.

“Ilana found the files Abstergo had on Clay Kaczmarek...about what the Animus did to him,” she revealed. “He couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't thanks to the bleeding effect. I'm sorry, but I don't think it's worth the risk.”

“That won't happen,” Rebecca promised. “Des was trained in the same way, and he's fine because I monitored him carefully, and he was never in there for too long. I'll do exactly the same with Shaun.”

Shaun remembered what Desmond had told him about Clay. What Clay had been through was pretty awful but he trusted Rebecca to keep him safe, just as she had done with Desmond.

“If he's going in that thing, I have the say on when he comes out. Are we clear?” Crash ordered, rubbing at her eyes.

“Whatever you say,” Rebecca agreed.

Shaun stared at his feet. Her concern for his well-being actually touched him. “Never knew you cared,” he mumbled.

“I wouldn't wish what happened to Clay on anyone,” she stated. Shaun lifted his head to look at her. She had a far-off look in her eye as she gazed ahead of her, no doubt remembering what she had read about Clay.

“When Shaun isn't in the Animus, I'll work with him on what he's learned,” William announced. “Desmond, you'll work on with him on his agility and freerunning.”

“I can go through some basic firearm training with him,” Crash added. “I don't know a huge amount, I admit, but I know enough.”

It all sounded good to Shaun and he began to think that, maybe, he'd actually have a chance with this mission.

“Great, we've got a plan together.” William affirmed before turning to Rebecca. “Can you get started on making the updates to the Animus?”

“Sure thing, Mr Miles.” Rebecca grabbed the schematics and walked out of the Chambers.

“Shaun, you and Desmond can head on out too, maybe make a start on something that'll help with your agility training,” William suggested. Shaun nodded and walked towards the doorway with Desmond.

“So, Desmond,” Shaun said once they were back in the main hall, “Where do you suggest we start?”

<><><>

They ended up sitting with Rebecca as she worked on the Animus, discussing with her ways Shaun could be trained. Desmond made far too many suggestive jokes about Shaun's stamina, leading to Shaun throwing a stapler at his head (“You missed! We should add target practice to the list!”). Despite all the joking and flying staplers they managed to come up with a rough training plan.

“I'll get Dad to have a look through it tomorrow,” Desmond said as he shut his tablet down, “see if we've missed anything.”

Shaun nodded, stretching widely as he stood up from his chair. “He’ll probably want to add whatever he's got planned to it. No doubt I'll be straight into the Animus tomorrow.”

“I thought you'd sound more excited, Shaun,” Rebecca said as she packed away her tools. “You're finally getting your time in Baby!”

“Yes, but I'm reliving the memories of someone else's ancestor instead of mine,” he complained. “We already know Ezio’s story.”

“Maybe if you had any ancestors that were Assassins you wouldn't have to,” Rebecca shot back playfully. “Instead you've probably got ancestors who spent all day drinking tea or some shit.”

“I see nothing wrong with that,” Shaun sniffed.

“Of course you wouldn't, you limey.”

“Insufferable yank.”

“Shut up, the pair of you,” Desmond chuckled. “Let’s go eat. I'm starving.”

The three of them walked up to the dining hall. Shaun looked around to see if Crash was about, but there was no sign of her. Part of him was glad she wasn't there, he didn't feel like mending fences right now. It was as if everything was just sinking in. He ate slowly in silence, his mind whirring.

“No sign of your new partner,” Rebecca teased him as she finished her meal. “She and Bill are taking ages, she’s gonna miss out on the food.”

“She’s a big girl, I’m sure she can take care of herself,” Shaun snapped, not looking up from his plate. “If you're so worried, why don't you go and find her?”

“Jeez, you're even more touchy than usual this evening,” Rebecca tutted, standing up to clear away her own plate. “I’m going to grab my jacket and head outside for a while. If either of you run into Shaun’s best friend, send her my way.”

Shaun poked at his food with a fork, decidedly ignoring Desmond's pointed gaze.

“You can ignore me all you want, Shaun, but I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me,” he stated.

Shaun turned his head to glare at him. “I'm fine.”

“Yeah, sure you are,” Desmond said, his tone sarcastic. “Come on, man. What's going on?”

Shaun tried to continue ignoring him, but Desmond didn’t give up so easily. Shaun groaned heavily, leaning his elbows on the table and resting his head against his hands. “This whole thing had started to sink in and I'm...worried, I suppose.”

“What about?”

“Mainly about me not being ready, no matter how much training I receive.”

Desmond let out a sigh. “Shaun, you're going to be fine. Dad wouldn't do this if he wasn't one hundred percent sure you could handle it,” Desmond insisted. “Besides, you're going with one of the best Assassins in the Order. She'll make sure nothing happens to you, even if she _does_ want to clock you in the jaw now and then.”

That's what worries me the most,” Shaun confessed. “What if...what if she gets killed because she's trying to keep me safe?” He swallowed hard and took a deep breath before continuing. “The safety of your mission partner is more important than your own, that's what we're taught. I don't want her to die because of me.”

Desmond placed his hand on Shaun’s shoulder, coaxing him to look at him.

“That won't happen. If worse comes to worse and you're not ready, Dad will send me, but I truly believe you'll do this,” he reassured. “You won't get anyone killed...except a bunch of Abstergo assholes, but that's kind of the point.”

Shaun chuckled a little at that. “Thanks, Desmond.” He sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat. “This conversation never leaves the room. I can’t have anyone thinking I’m anything other than the epitome of stoicism.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Desmond smirked.

Shaun nodded at him and stood up. “Well, then. I think I’ll head upstairs, busy day tomorrow and all that,” he coughed. Desmond waved him off as he left the dining hall.

Shaun ran a hand through his hair as he walked towards the staircase that would take him to the bedrooms. His mind was still whirring, but he was feeling a little better after talking with Desmond.

_I’ll feel better once I’ve had some sleep. Today has just been-_ Shaun’s thoughts were halted abruptly upon seeing Crash standing in the hallway, her expression one of confusion and annoyance and her eyes unfocused as if she was lost in thought. She hadn't even seen him.

“You OK?” Shaun asked hesitantly. She started at his question, looking at him for a second before replying.

“What? Oh, yeah, sorry. I just...it’s nothing.” She rubbed at her neck. “Did you need something?”

“Rebecca was looking for you,” Shaun said, remembering Rebecca requesting to see her. “She didn't tell me why, but she's in the courtyard.”

Crash gave him a nod. “Alright, thanks.” She walked past him towards the hallway courtyard, leaving Shaun staring after her wondering what had gotten her so distracted.

“At least there wasn't any yelling this time,” Shaun muttered to himself before continuing upstairs.

<><><>

Shaun awoke the following morning still apprehensive about the whole situation. Standing under the hot spray of the shower he mentally ran through what he could remember from previous training sessions back when he was a Novice, before the Order felt he would serve them better sitting behind a desk utilising his knowledge of history. Unfortunately he couldn't remember a great deal of anything that would prove useful; making sure your thumb wasn't under your fingers when throwing a punch the only piece of information sticking out.

“Looks like I'm relying on the Animus, then,” he huffed to himself as he dressed. “Let's hope it works.”

It was still early, at least for someone like Rebecca who was steadfast in her hatred of being awake before 9AM, but for Shaun it was fine. He busied himself with making sure he ate a decent breakfast, not wanting to come out of the Animus ravenous because he'd only had a slice of toast before going under.

“This better be worth me being up at this god-awful hour.” Rebecca dropped heavily into the chair next to Shaun, folding her arms across the table top and resting her head on them. “I need coffee!”

“Good morning to you too, Becs,” Shaun sang, standing to fetch Rebecca her much-needed caffeine. “I'm glad to see you're as cheerful as ever.”

“Stuff it, Hastings.”

“Oh, well, if you're going to be like that, I'll take this back,” he teased, gesturing to the coffee mug he held in his hand.

“No, I need it!” Rebecca whined, reaching out for it. Shaun laughed gently as he passed the mug to her. She took it gratefully before swallowing a large mouthful of the dark and bitter liquid, despite its heat. “Damn, that's good.”

“Busy night?”

“I woke up to a box half full of mozzarella sticks and another box with the remains of a Florentine pizza in it on my bedroom floor, so I guess you could say it was busy.”

“Sounds delightful.” Shaun sipped his tea slowly, savouring the taste. “What's the plan for today?”

“You're going into the Animus as soon as Rebecca’s coffee kicks in,” William announced as he strolled over to the two of them. “You'll be in there until your partner says otherwise, as per the agreement. After that, well, we'll see how the day takes us.”

Shaun nodded. Despite all of his reservations he was actually excited to finally get his turn in the Animus, even if it wasn't to discover his own past.

“I expect to hear as soon as you're back with us,” William ordered, making himself a coffee before heading back out.

“I've never seen anyone put so much sugar in their coffee,” Rebecca commented as she drained her own beverage. “Alright, I'm good to go. Let's roll.” The pair of them stood up and made their way down into the Sanctuary to where the Animus was. Rebecca tapped away on the console next to it as Shaun hovered awkwardly next to her.

“What are you waiting for dumbass, sit down,” she said, raising her eyebrow at him.

“OK, OK, no need for the name calling,” Shaun grumbled as he gingerly sat down.

“I've called you worse,” Rebecca noted, leaning across him to connect him up. “Just give me a second...that's it, you're good to go.” She took her seat in front of the monitor. “Ready?”

“As I'll ever be.” He closed his eyes and tried to relax.

“Three...two...one...you're in.”

 


	7. UPDATE!!

I just wanted to give a small update to everyone still following this story; I HAVEN'T abandoned it, I promise, it's just that a lot has happened since I last posted a chapter in February 2016. In April 2016 I got married, in June 2017 I moved into my new home and in July 2017 I had a baby! So as you can probably imagine things have been a bit insane. I've had the odd bit of free time where I've written something different (as you may have noticed) but I haven't had enough free time to sit down and really work on the next chapter of this. This story is never far from my mind, and I'm often finding myself thinking of things to put in future chapters.

I promise that I WILL finish and post chapter 7, I just can't say when that will be!

Much love to you all xx


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